Nile Therapeutics, Inc. CEO Takes 99.6% Cut in Pay

San Francisco Business Times by Ron Leuty, Reporter

Dr. Darlene Horton is taking one in the pocket book for the Nile Therapeutics Inc. -- at least for the next few weeks.

Horton, who in August was given a monthly salary of $28,314 as she was named CEO of the tiny San Mateo heart drug developer, will take a pay cut to $100 a month until Nile completes an interim financing deal.

But there's a greater incentive than just pay for performance here -- more like pay for survival. Nile (OTC: NLTX) said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday that it has enough cash to last through only the end of this month.

In other words, the clock is ticking for Horton and Nile.

For the sake of the pay-cut deal, "interim financing" is defined as one or more transactions through a financing, strategic transaction or otherwise that by the end of 2013 would raise an aggregate of $1 million or more in gross proceeds.

Nile, which also said Monday that board member Dr. Frank Litvack was resigning immediately, needs the money to complete its clinical programs and fund continued operations. It is developing a drug, called cenderitide, for patients who have exited the hospital after treatment for acute decompensated heart failure.

Horton, who joined the company as chief medical officer in June before becoming president two months later, helped Itero Biopharmaceuticals raise $17 million as she led a development team that licensed a female infertility treatment.

Horton and Chief Financial Officer Daron Evans weren't immediately available to comment.

Nile Chairman Richard Brewer died this summer from multiple myeloma.

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