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Hospital Earnings: Tenet Healthcare, the object of an unwanted takeover bid by Community Health Systems, said first-quarter profit fell 16% due to increased income-tax expenses as revenue rose, Dow Jones Newswires Reports. Meantime, on Monday, Community Health boosted its all-cash bid for the hospital operator to $7.25 from $6 per share.

Johnson & Johnson, which has grown into a health-care powerhouse by acquiring small firms, is no stranger to making deals. But it’s never done anything as big as the one announced today, for device-maker Synthes. That could make digesting the new business thorny, even for a company as adept as J&J.

The $21.3 billion takeover of the surgical-device maker will be J&J’s biggest, eclipsing its $16.6 billion purchase of Pfizer’s consumer business in 2006.

It’s Deal Time: Johnson & Johnson is buying Synthes, which makes surgical devices used for orthopedic and traumatic injuries, for $21.3 billion in cash and stock, the WSJ reports. The boards of the companies support the merger, but some Synthes shareholders may think the company is worth closer to 165 Swiss francs ($189) per share than the agreed-upon price of 159 Swiss francs per share, the paper says.

Deal Talk: Johnson & Johnson is conducting due diligence of Synthes as the companies discuss a deal that could be worth $20 billion and would give a needed boost to J&J’s orthopedic device business, the WSJ reports. Synthes — which makes plates and screws used in surgery to repair broken bones — has confirmed that it’s in talks with J&J, while J&J tells the paper it doesn’t comment on speculation.

Pfizer may be considering a series of spin-offs that would leave the company with a core group of four pharma businesses, according to Sanford Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson.

Deals, Deals, Deals: The tide of health-care real estate deals continues, with Ventas saying it will buy Nationwide Health for $5.8 billion, plus debt, the WSJ reports. Last year deals involving medical-office properties and senior-living facilities reached $11.7 billion and that trend is expected to continue as health care shifts towards outpatient services — especially for the growing number of older Americans, the paper says.

What’s Essential?: Regulators are working on definitions of the “essential” medical care that must be offered by insurance plans under the health-care overhaul law, the WSJ reports. The law defines ten categories of care that must be provided, but the specifics are sparking debate — for example, which so-called habilitative services, such as behavioral therapy for autistic kids, should be defined as essential.

Deconstructing the deal’s CVR; solving Genzyme’s manufacturing problems; avoiding the pitfalls of pharma-biotech deals; Viehbacher’s legacy.

Read the original: Sanofi-Aventis to Buy Genzyme: The Wrap-Up

For the French pharma company, the deal’s immediate benefits may be more important.

Read the original post: This Pharma-Biotech Marriage May Need to Pay Off Right Away

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association meets this week;expect a lot of chatter about what a future FDA user-fee system might look like.

See the rest here: Mylan’s President Talks About Her Wish List for the FDA