Drkoop.com to Buy DrDrew.com

Drkoop.com of Austin, Texas, said it would buy the assets of Pasadena-based DrDrew.com from Sherwood Partners, a corporate restructuring and business advisory firm, for $1.4 million in Drkoop.com stock and $150,000 in cash. The acquisition will boost Drkoop.com’s base of registered users to more than 2 million and allow the company, which was on the verge of shutting down this summer, to license DrDrew.com’s teen-oriented content to its health-care partner providers, said President Ed Cespedes. By pooling technology and business resources, Drkoop.com will be able to reduce the cost of operating DrDrew.com, Cespedes said. The site is an offshoot of a long-running radio call-in program in which Drew Pinsky, medical director for the Department of Chemical Dependency Services at Pasadena’s Las Encinas Hospital, answers questions about sex and health. Drkoop.com shares rose 6 cents to close at 91 cents on Nasdaq.