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Prostate biopsies are unpleasant — not many men look forward to having a needle passed through their rectal wall into their prostate gland — but they’re not typically perceived as dangerous.

A new study covering more than 152,000 Medicare beneficiaries, however, found that 6.9% of the men who underwent biopsies ended up in the hospital in the following 30 days. That’s more than double the 2.9% hospitalization rate for Medicare beneficiaries who weren’t biopsied.

Serial Killers: Genetically engineering certain immune-system cells to identify and then destroy a certain protein found on leukemia cells can put patients into sustained remission from their cancer, the WSJ reports. Research on three people published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine shows that the treatment has harsh side effects, however, and much larger studies are needed to prove that it works. The genetic immunotherapy will also be studied in other cancers.

Takeover Talks?: Valeant Pharmaceuticals has approached Meda AB in the last two weeks about a takeover, though the status of the talks is unclear, as is the amount Valeant might be willing to pay for the Swedish drug maker, the WSJ reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Assuming a premium of 30%, Meda could be sold for $4.4 billion, the paper says. Ontario-based Valeant previously made an unsuccessful hostile bid for Cephalon.

All day we’ll be tracking the latest and greatest on Express Scripts’ plans to buy Medco Home Solutions for about $29 billion in cash and stock.

Here’s what our colleagues at the WSJ have been reporting:

Deal Journal reports that investors love the deal. Shares in Express Scripts were up 4.7% to $55.00 in recent trading, while Medco shares rose 12.9% to $63.00.

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 yesterday’s 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.

Johnson & Johnson can’t seem to shake the “musty, moldy odor” that has prompted a series of product recalls.

No Hearing: The Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal from insurers and other payers who said they paid too much for Eli Lilly’s antipsychotic drug Zyprexa because the drug company misrepresented the benefits of the medication, the WSJ reports. A lower court had ruled that there wasn’t a sufficient link between the high prices and Lilly’s marketing practices; the Supreme Court won’t hear a challenge to that ruling.

Weight-loss drug development is not for the faint of heart.

Three companies — Orexigen, Arena and Vivus — had promising candidates before the FDA last year. All walked away empty-handed. Orexigen said earlier this month it was suspending U.S. development of its own candidate, Contrave, because the bar set by the FDA was impossible to clear. Arena and Vivus are pushing ahead to provide the agency with the information it has requested.