Shire ($SHPG) is finally nearing the Baxalta ($BXLT) buyout it's long coveted, according to Bloomberg's sources. The two drugmakers are discussing a price between $46.50 and $48 per share, the news service reports, which would value the Illinois pharma at about $32 billion. A tie-up, Shire CEO Flemming Ornskov has said, would create a global rare-disease leader that can bring in $20 billion in sales by 2020. More from FiercePharma
> Hikma Pharmaceuticals has won FDA approval to market a drug used to enable patients to recover from surgery. Release
> U.K. cost-effectiveness gatekeepers have changed their tune when it comes to using Merck's ($MRK) hypercholesterolemia med Ezetrol on the National Health Service, reverting back to original guidelines published in 2007. More
And Finally... Some say the three-year cancer battle of Mary Pazdur, wife of FDA oncology chief Richard Pazdur, increased his willingness to quickly approve risky new therapies. More (sub. req.)