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RALEIGH, NC -- (Marketwire) -- 03/01/13 -- DARA BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: DARA) (the "Company" or "DARA"), announced today the appointments of Haywood D. Cochrane Jr. as chairman of the DARA board of directors and Paul Richardson as a new board member.

Mr. Cochrane has served as a member of DARA's board since February 2008. Mr. Cochrane has over 30 years of healthcare experience in executive and senior management positions, including senior vice president and chief operating officer of Roche Biomedical Laboratories, president and chief executive officer of Allied Clinical Laboratories and executive vice president and chief financial officer of Laboratory Corporation of America. Mr. Cochrane earned an A.B. degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead Scholar.

"Haywood brings our board extensive executive and senior management experience in the healthcare industry and extraordinary abilities as a communicator and board facilitator. His relevant business expertise and leadership experience acquired through serving as vice chairman and chairman of the boards of directors of other healthcare-related companies make Haywood an outstanding choice to serve as the chairman of the board for DARA," said David J. Drutz, M.D., DARA's chief executive officer.

Mr. Richardson had previously served on the board of a public company specializing in oncology supportive care and has over 30 years of senior executive experience in the bio-pharmaceutical industry, culminating in his former position as the President for Pfizer's North American Specialty Business.

"Paul is a tenured bio-pharmaceutical executive with far-reaching experience in global product commercialization and development. Paul's impressive background further strengthens our board by providing additional expertise for commercial and developmental strategy on a worldwide basis," said Dr. Drutz. "His strategic, managerial and commercial skills combined with his knowledge regarding specialty products will be of paramount importance as we grow our business. We look forward to Paul's input as we move forward with our commercial platform. Furthermore, Paul's contacts and experience will be invaluable as the company executes on its plan to continue building its sales and marketing pipeline."

Dr. Drutz concluded, "We are very grateful to have a board of directors with the experience, knowledge, and expertise necessary to support DARA in its ongoing efforts to become a preeminent oncology and oncology supportive care company."

About DARA BioSciences, Inc.
DARA is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of oncology treatment and supportive care products. DARA has comprehensive commercial coverage across the national oncology market through a series of agreements with a number of specialty pharmacy providers, leading group purchasing organizations (GPOs), retail partners, reimbursement experts, and an industry-leading third-party logistics provider. As part of an integrated national network with annual sales of over $1 billion in cancer therapeutics, DARA has significant commercial scale and capabilities. Its distribution network consists of more than 45,000 retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, and long-term care facilities. This provides DARA with established reimbursement and logistics expertise, as well as partnering opportunities with more than 300 sales and marketing personnel uniquely focused on oncology and oncology support products. This comprehensive network of partners is rare if not unique among companies in the oncology supportive care area and provides DARA a strong foundation for product introductions into this underserved market.