PBM Deal: Express Scripts announced it will buy rival pharmacy-benefit manager Medco Health Solutions for $29.1 billion in cash and stock, or $71.36 per share a 28% premium to yesterdays closing price the WSJ reports. Express Scripts CEO George Paz will lead the combined company, which will be based in St. Louis, the paper says.

Genetics of Infertility: A study published in Science Translational Medicine finds men with two flawed copies of a certain gene cant make a sperm-coating protein that seems to play a role in fertility, the New York Times reports.

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The osteoporosis drugs known as bisphosphonates are starting to look like a bad idea. As I’ve reported in the past, they’ve been linked to rare thigh fractures, and may be less effective at preventing osteoporatic fractures than a combo of calcium and vitamin D is.

Now the FDA has announced an ongoing review of whether bisphosphonate osteoporosis drugs increase women’s risk of esophageal cancer.

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Understanding how they thwart pain, resist infection may advance field of wound treatment, researcher says.

FRIDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) — The ability of dolphins to resist infection and heal quickly from shark bites could offer new insight into the treatment of human wounds, a researcher suggests.

“Much about the dolphin’s healing process remains unreported and poorly documented,” Dr. Michael Zasloff, adjunct professor at Georgetown University Medical Center and former dean of research, said in a university news release.

“How does the dolphin not bleed to death after a shark bite? How is it that dolphins appear not to suffer significant pain?

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