Â鶹ŮÓÅ

British-based drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline opted Wednesday to keep its stake in its stand-alone HIV business as it set out its strategy following a big deal with Switzerland's Novartis. GSK said it has cancelled an initial public offering of its holding in the HIV business, ViiV Healthcare, opting instead to retain its full holding in the joint venture with equity partners Pfizer and Shiongi. (Kirka, 5/6)

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc on Wednesday said it agreed to buy Synageva BioPharma Corp for $8.4 billion, more than twice its market value, to expand its offering of potentially high-priced medicines for rare diseases. Alexion's willingness to pay an eye-popping premium for Synageva demonstrates that the appetite for large acquisitions in healthcare continues unabated. It also highlights the attraction of medicines for rare diseases that can command exceptionally high prices with little payer pushback because of the limited number of patients. (Berkrot and Grover, 5/6)

Alexion Pharmaceuticals will pay a huge premium to buy Synageva BioPharma in an $8.4-billion deal for a rare disease treatment maker that lost nearly $60 million in the first quarter and has no products on the market. Alexion made the deal, announced Wednesday morning, more for what Synageva can offer rather than what it already provides. That includes access to a potential blockbuster drug and stronger footing in lucrative field where drugmakers can command top dollar for treatments without facing fierce negotiations from insurers and other payers. (Murphy, 5/6)

WellCare Health Plans Inc. on Wednesday posted better-than-expected profit in the first quarter as its Medicaid membership grew. In February, the company gave downbeat guidance for the year after an unexpectedly severe flu season. WellCare reiterated its full-year earnings guidance Wednesday. (Dulaney, 5/6)

A rise in cyber attacks against doctors and hospitals is costing the U.S. health-care system $6 billion a year as organized criminals who once targeted retailers and financial firms increasingly go after medical records, security researchers say. Criminal attacks against health-care providers have more than doubled in the past five years, with the average data breach costing a hospital $2.1 million, according to a study today from the Ponemon Institute, a security research and consulting firm. Nearly 90 percent of health-care providers were hit by breaches in the past two years, half of them criminal in nature, the report found. (Pettypiece, 5/7)