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DARA Regains NASDAQ Stockholders' Equity Compliance

RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 7, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DARA BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:DARA) today announced that, on January 5, 2011, NASDAQ notified the Company that it has regained compliance with the minimum stockholders' equity requirement for continued listing on The NASDAQ Capital Market, as set forth in NASDAQ Listing Rule 5550(b)(1). On December 30, 2010, the Company filed a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission evidencing stockholders' equity of approximately $5.6 million on a pro forma basis as of November 30, 2010, following completion of the Company's registered public offering, as variously described in the Company's press releases dated December 28 and 29, 2010, and January 4, 2011. Accordingly, the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel (the "Panel") has determined to continue the Company's listing on The NASDAQ Stock Market and the previously announced delisting proceedings are now closed.

On August 18, 2010, DARA received notice from the Listing Qualifications Staff of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (the "Staff") indicating that the Company did not satisfy the minimum stockholders' equity requirement and that its securities were therefore subject to delisting. The Company appealed the Staff's determination and appeared before the Panel in October 2010.

About DARA BioSciences, Inc.

DARA BioSciences, Inc. is a Raleigh, North Carolina based biopharmaceutical development company that acquires promising therapeutic candidates and develops them through proof of concept in humans for subsequent sale or out-licensing to larger pharmaceutical companies. Presently DARA has two drug candidates with cleared IND (Investigational New Drug) Applications from the United States FDA. The Company has a pipeline of diverse drug candidates at various stages of development, with 82 granted patents and 56 pending applications (U.S. and foreign). The first drug candidate KRN5500 has successfully completed a Phase 2 clinical trial treating neuropathic pain in patients with cancer. KRN5500 met its primary endpoint and was statistically significantly (p=0.03) better than placebo. A second Phase 2 clinical trial is planned during the first half of 2011. The second drug candidate DB959 is a highly selective, non-thiazolidinedione (TZD), first-in-class dual PPAR (peroxisome proliferator activated receptor) delta/gamma agonist in development for type 2 diabetes. A Phase 1a clinical study for DB959 was successfully completed in 2010 with a multiple ascending dose trial planned for the first half of 2011. In addition, DARA owns CPT-1 inhibitors intended for topical application for patients with psoriasis, a library of DDPIV inhibitors and a diverse library of approximately 1800 PPAR agonists of various molecular modalities. PPAR receptors are found throughout the human body and recent publications report that PPAR agonists may be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, cystic fibrosis, liver disease, and a variety of autoimmune diseases. Because its diverse PPAR library has the potential to address the unmet medical needs of these diseases, the Company plans to explore several of these indications.