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. Researchers say its too early to tell whether, or to what degree, the common defect delays or prevents couples from conceiving, the paper says.

More Earnings: Pharma earnings continue to roll in, with Roche today reporting a better-than-expected 6% decline in first-half net profit, to about $6.3 billion, the WSJ reports. Sales, however, dropped by more than expected, to about $26.4 billion, as U.S. sales of the cancer drug Avastin declined. Eli Lilly, meantime, reported an 11% drop in second-quarter profit though it posted higher-than-expected revenue, Dow Jones Newswires reports. Yesterday Abbott Labs reported a 50% increase in second-quarter profit and a 9% gain in sales, the WSJ reports.

Unwelcome Resurgence: It may not be possible to meet the goal of eliminating polio from the globe by the end of next year as the disease has reappeared in 14 countries and is on the rise in Pakistan, the Guardian reports. A report from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative shows the disease is surging in Pakistan and has reached concerning levels in Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the paper says.

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