Biotech drug developer Oragenics Inc. said Monday that it bought privately held iviGene Corp. in an all-stock transaction.

Oragenics issued just over 185,000 shares for iviGene, which holds two patents for identifying gene and protein biomarkers that can be used for a better diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of infectious diseases and cancers. Oragenics has about 21 million shares outstanding.

Oragenics had an exclusive license to specific applications of iviGene's patented IVIAT technology since February 2004. With this transaction Oragenics now has all of iviGene's assets, including issued and pending patents to two broad-based platform technologies.

The transaction was approved by the boards of both companies. Oragenics is required to file a resale registration statement for its newly issued shares within 90 days.

Shares of Oragenics rose 2 cents at $1.27 in morning trading on the American Stock Exchange.