Dara BioSciences, Inc. announced  a partnership with Seyer Pharmatec, Inc. for the exclusive distribution of Dara’s breast cancer drug Soltamox in Puerto Rico.

In January, the Raleigh-based company bought Oncogenerix, a small South Carolina-based pharmaceutical company. The acquisition gave Dara the American rights to Soltamox, which is a liquid version of the widely used breast cancer drug tamoxifen.

Already sold in the United Kingdom and approved by the FDA for use in the United States, Soltamox is expected to go on sale in the U.S. later this year. The company expects the drug to achieve revenue of up to $20 million in the next five years.

The liquid version of the drug will help patients who are unable to swallow pills due to their cancer treatment.

In addition to Soltamox, Dara is working on drugs to treat cancer and diabetes.

The former owners of a French bakery in North Raleigh are holding a bake sale Saturday to raise money for their son’s cancer treatment.

Isabelle and Denis Blanco are the former owners of Gourmandises de France, a bakery they owned on Creedmoor Road from 2000 to 2007. Their 20-year-old son, Sylvain, was diagnosed two years ago with Ewing sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. With treatment, he got better. Last year, he got his GED from Wake Technical Community College and planned to study to become an oncology nurse.

Two-and-a-half weeks ago, doctors found that the cancer had returned; this time in his lungs, says his mom, Isabelle Blanco (who is pictured above in the couple's shop.) The family found treatment available in France, where they are from originally, and have sent him there.

The family’s friends and those in the Triangle’s French community are coming together to help the couple raise money with a bake sale starting at 10 a.m. Saturday outside the couple’s Wake Forest home. Sosta Cafe is donating brownies. La Farm Bakery in Cary is donating pastries. And Denis Blanco, who was the pastry chef at the couple’s bakery, will be making crepes. There also will be face painting for children and a raffle.

“It’s going to be a big huge picnic in solidarity for a sick child,” Isabelle Blanco says.

The bake sale starts at 10 a.m. Saturday on the front lawn of the Blancos’ home at 3600 Trawden Dr., Wake Forest.

I write about freebies all the time on this blog, but here's one that's special.

Several Triangle cleaning businesses are involved in a national effort to provide free maid services to women battling cancer.

If you're battling cancer or know of a Triangle woman who is, please be sure to share this information with her.

Click here to find out more information about the national Cleaning for a Reason Foundation. Click on the locations tab, put in your Zip Code and a list of maid service companies in your area will be displayed.

The daily deal site Plum District is offering up a deal today that benefits a Triangle child battling cancer.

The deal is $15 for one dozen gourmet cupcakes from the Sweet Treat Boutique in Wake Forest. The regular price on the cupcakes is $33 -- a 55 percent savings.

The voucher, which is good through July 14, allows you to customize our cupcakes, choosing among six cake flavors and eight buttercream icing flavors. Click here for all the details on the deal.

Proceeds from the Plum District deal are being donated to a Wake Forest boy by the name of Harrison who was recently diagnosed with leukemia. You can read more about Harrison here.

Dara BioSciences, a small Raleigh drug company, said in public filings it has enough money left to continue operating for 10 months at most as it burns through $388,000 a month.

The six-employee drug development company has raised $16 million from private investors in the past two years and now down to $3.4 million it will have to do another round of financing, said CEO Richard Franco. One of its treatments would be the first to control the agonizing pain triggered by chemotherapy.

In recent years the 9-year-old company narrowly avoided getting delisted from the NASDAQ exchange for being underfunded and because its stock price dipped below $1 per share. Shares are down 22 percent for the year and closed at $2.33 Tuesday.

Dara's business strategy is to develop and license drugs that are discovered by others. Dara is developing two drugs -- one for diabetes and and the other for cancer -- that the company plans to sell off before the drugs enter Phase III clinical trials, which are the final stage of drug-testing on patients.

AT&T's top executive in North Carolina has made good on her vow and returned to work this week after a six-month battle with colon cancer.

Cynthia Marshall is upbeat, optimistic and energetic, reports AT&T spokesman Clifton Metcalf. The most noticeable difference: a shorter hairstyle, the consequence of 12 rounds of chemotherapy treatment.

Marshall, who lives in Cary with her husband and children, is one of the state's most prominent corporate executives and the first African American to chair the board of directors of the state's powerful business lobby, the N.C. Chamber.

There has been plenty of buzz over whether or not cell phones cause cancer, but now there is a way for smart phones to detect cancer.

Harvard Medical researchers say their prototype smart phone accessory can take and test tiny tissue samples for cancer signs in under an hour.

The device has logged a 96 percent accuracy rate in detection tests. the results have been published by Science Translational Medicine.

Though not ready for prime time, the technology could become in cancer treatment as a less invasive detection tool to analyze patient tissue more frequently.

IEEE Spectrum has an indepth report on the research.

AT&T's top executive in North Carolina, who has been battling colon cancer this year, expects to return to work in July.

Cynthia Marshall, 51, took indefinite medical leave in January from the state's biggest telecommunications provider to focus on her treatment for stage 3 cancer. She is scheduled to undergo six months of chemotherapy, and took the fourth of 12 rounds Wednesday.

Marshall has been chronicling her treatment in an online journal, in which she celebrates her religious faith and expresses gratitude for her friends and family. In her most recent update, posted yesterday, she said she has already beaten the disease but is continuing with chemotherapy as a precautionary measure.

"The Lord had helped me understand that a virtual thunderstorm swept into my life on December 15, 2010," she wrote. "Since then, I have experienced sadness, worry, weakness, and anxiety. But I have also experienced peace, comfort and an incredible outpouring of love."

Hardee’s and Tar Heel Athletics will partner to raise funds for UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at halftime of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between UNC vs. N.C. State. Hardee’s will donate money for each shot made by former UNC All-American and current women’s assistant basketball coach Charlotte Smith.
Smith will take five free throws, each valued at $500. Smith will then have a chance to relive her stardom by replicating the 3-point shot she made to win the 1994 NCAA Women’s National Championship. If Smith hits the shot Hardee’s will donate an additional $2,500 to the Center.
Representatives of Hardee’s will present a check to UNC Lineberger director Shelley Earp immediately following the Shoot Out.
Hardee’s currently makes a $25 donation for every 3-point shot made by a UNC women’s basketball player during the 2010-2011 regular season. Since 2009, Hardee’s has contributed over $18,000 to UNC Lineberger.

UNC’s 15th-ranked women have a good chance to up that figure when they host Virginia at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Carmichael.
UNC’s Lineberger Center, located in Chapel Hill, is one of only 40 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers.

Durham-based Quintiles will co-develop a new cancer drug with HUYA Bioscience International, a biopharmaceutical company with joint headquarters in San Diego and Shanghai.

HUYA partners with Chinese research institutes and pharmaceutical companies in an effort to accelerate the development of drugs and provide a bridge to U.S. development and markets.

The cancer drug, HBI-8000, is one such drug. Quintiles will be handling its clinical testing in the United States. Now in the first phase of such testing, the drug is being assessed for safety and its ability to shrink tumors. HBI-8000 has already passed such tests in China where it is now going through a second phase of testing.

"This alliance with Quintiles further validates HUYA's business model of co-developing novel compounds originating in China as therapies for global markets," Mireille Gingras, CEO of HUYA, said in a statement. "This important step will expedite the clinical development process of HBI-8000 in the U.S. and Europe."