Hungary to issue bonds for Gedeon Richter; China Pharma offers $318M for Sihuan;

> Hungary plans to issue new convertible bonds worth around €800 million to refinance expiring debt held by pharmaceutical firm Gedeon Richter. Report

> Shares of Sihuan Pharmaceutical surged to a record after China Pharma, a private-equity unit of Morgan Stanley, offered to buy the Singapore-based drugmaker for some $318 million. Report

> French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis and Belgium's UCB said their once-daily allergy medication Xyzal has received expanded FDA approval for children as young as six months. Report

> Medtronic's fiscal first quarter earnings dropped by 38 percent on restructuring and litigation charges. Report

> In news that could broaden use of human papillomavirus vaccines, Spanish researchers found that HPV is to blame for half of all cases of cancer of the penis. Report

> Cambrex, an active pharmaceutical ingredient provider, received an FDA warning letter on collection and maintenance of lab data at its manufacturing facility in Milan, Italy. Report

Biotech News

> Valeant Pharmaceuticals has won rare praise for designing a pay package for its CEO that rewards long-term success. Ironically, the company reported a key failure in a mid-stage trial the same day the Wall Street Journal echoed some high-profile kudos for the way the developer is compensating Chief Executive J. Michael Pearson. Report

> Complete Genomics has snared a $45 million round to finance development of new, and radically cheaper, sequencing services. Report

> P&G announced it will sell its entire prescription drug division in a $3.1 billion deal with specialty drugmaker Warner Chilcott. Report

> Shares of Switzerland's Santhera Pharmaceuticals got a boost this morning after the developer announced a $192 million licensing pact with Biovail for its experimental drug for dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease. Report

Research News

> Following a stem cell transplant with a cancer vaccine just weeks later appears to reduce complications for patients with a particularly hard-to-treat form of acute myeloid leukemia while significantly improving the immune system's ability to fight the disease. Report

> Working with embryonic stem cells, Australian scientists have created ‘glow-in-the-dark' blood cells that could help light the way to an artificial blood supply that would do away with the need for regular donations. Report

> Sigma-Aldrich is opening up a new lab that will create lines of genetically engineered rats for use in drug testing. A dozen scientists will work at the Sigma Advanced Genetic Engineering lab in St. Louis, where they will employ zinc finger nuclease technology to genetically modify the rats. Report

> Andrea Armani, an assistant professor at USC, has developed the world's first optical sensor that can spot an unlabelled molecule. And it works in a liquid. Report

And Finally... Johns Hopkins scientists say they have figured out how bacteria that cause diarrhea may also be the culprit in some colon cancers. Report