The transaction is expected to close in early 2014 and is subject to a vote by Life Technologies’ shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Thermo Fisher has received committed financing from J.P. Morgan and Barclays and expects the payment for Life Technologies to be split with cash and debt accounting for $9.5 billion to $10 billion and equity of up to $4 billion.

The acquisition brings to Thermo Fisher an established position in the genetic sequencing business, an area in which the company has not been a player. Genetic testing and sequencing are expected to be high-growth fields in the next few years.

Last year Roche Holdings made a hostile bid for genetic testing equipment maker Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN), which the smaller company successfully beat back. But Illumina could be back in play now because its market cap is significantly lower than Life Technologies’ and the company may need to find a larger partner to help it compete in the market.

Life Technologies’ shares are up 8% in premarket trading this morning, at $73.44, above the top end of its prior 52-week range of $39.73 to $68.23.

According to new Gallup data:

Americans were as likely to be obese in 2012 as they were in 2011. But the 26.2% who were obese in 2012 remains slightly higher than the 25.5% recorded in 2008. Another 36.1% of Americans were overweight in 2012 and about as many were a normal weight — 35.9%.

One has to wonder how tiny a portion of the population can be described as thin.

Gallup’s comments about obesity in the United States might be considered close to upbeat. At least obesity rates rose no higher in 2012 from 2011, the polling firm states. Only a drop could show progress, particularly as far as the medical community says. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that:

The good news is even a small weight loss (between 5 and 10 percent of your current weight) will help lower your risk of developing those diseases.

“Those diseases” include diabetes and heart problems. Gallup’s report also indicates that no large number of Americans have taken off the 5% or 10%.

As an aside, the federal government has done almost nothing to encourage weight loss, which in turn could lower U.S. medical costs by billions and billions of dollars. By itself, this should help solve some of the trouble with overruns in Medicare and Medicaid expenses. The health care cost burden on the total population would drop.

A solution to the weight problem need not focus on every group in America. Obesity is especially high with some groups that could be targets for efforts to lower weight. Among these are blacks, those in late middle age (45 to 64) and people with low incomes (less than $36,000). Better to address the heart of the problem instead of the entire population if federal resources are severely limited, and in this age of austerity they are.

The fat may not be getting fatter, but there is not any comfort in that.

Methodology: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2012, with a random sample of 353,564 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, selected using random-digit-dial sampling.

Baxter’s CEO said:

Baxter has a legacy of innovation in dialysis, including the development of peritoneal dialysis for the treatment of end-stage kidney disease patients in the home. This acquisition further strengthens our global dialysis offerings by extending our portfolio in the hemodialysis segment.

Analysts cited by Bloomberg noted that Baxter’s renal division has been “undersized” in relation to some of the company’s other businesses and that this deal balances the company better.

The acquisition is expected to cost Baxter $0.10 to $0.15 in adjusted EPS in 2013. Baxter said that it expects the transaction to be neutral to modestly accretive to adjusted earnings per share in 2014. Over the next five years, Baxter expects a sales increase of 7% to 8% and growth of adjusted EPS of 8% to 10%.

Baxter said it will finance the acquisition with overseas cash and debt, which analysts also like because it allows the company to use its cash in foreign banks without having to repatriate the funds. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2013.

Baxter’s shares are inactive in premarket trading this morning, having closed at $65.80 last night in a 52-week range of $47.55 to $68.91.

Paul Ausick

Read: States with the Fewest Doctors

Read: States with the Most Doctors

24/7 Wall St. looked at the 10 states with the highest ratio of patient care physicians and the 10 states with the lowest. The differences are stark. Massachusetts had 314.8 patient care doctors for every 100,000 residents. On the other hand, Mississippi had just 159.4, or just half the figure for Massachusetts.

States with a higher doctor-to-resident ratio share some common attributes. Generally, the states with high median incomes tend to have more doctors per capita, while poorer states tend to have substantially fewer. Among the 10 states with the most practicing physicians per capita are five of the six wealthiest states by median income in the country.

The ability to pay has a major influence on whether people have health insurance. Each of the 10 states with the highest concentration of doctors has uninsured rates lower than the national rate of 15.5%, while seven of the 10 states at the bottom have uninsured rates higher than the national rate. When doctors treat insured patients they are paid more than when they treat uninsured patients, incentivizing them to move to highly insured states.

“Most of [the uninsured] are choosing to not get insurance because they can’t afford it, and so you’re not likely to get paid, at least paid fully, from those patients,” AAMC’s chief policy officer Atul Glover told 24/7 Wall St. He notes that although the new federal health law will expand Medicaid coverage, the program, along with Medicare, tends to pay physicians between 30% and 40% less than private insurance companies.

Many of the states with high doctor-to-patient ratios also have a larger number of students who perform their residency in the state relative to the size of the population. This also signifies the ample medical facilities in which to practice medicine in the state. Six of the top 10 states are in the top 10 for the number of medical residents per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, six of the bottom 10 states are in the bottom 10 for medical residents.

A state’s doctor-to-patient ratio has significant consequences. The states with the most patient care physicians per capita also tend to be healthier states, and vice versa, Glover said. And statistics back that up. For instance, all but one state in the top 10 had a longer life expectancy than the country’s 78.6 years, with four of the states in the top 10 for life span. Meanwhile, all but two states in the bottom 10 had a shorter life expectancy than the national average, with five of the states in the bottom 10 for life span. States with high doctor-to-resident ratios tend to have lower smoking rates and fewer people who are either overweight or obese than those with low doctor-to-patient ratios.

Both medical schools and governments are trying to find solutions for the shortage of doctors. Some medical schools are expanding enrollment, although that is difficult to accomplish due to cutbacks in federal funds. Others state governments are considering programs that would pay patient care doctors to go to underserved areas for designated periods of time. This is similar to the National Health Service Corps., which will help pay off medical school loans for graduates who go to certain underserved states for two to four years.

Based on the American Association of Medical Colleges’ State Physician Workbook Data Book, 24/7 Wall St. determined the ten states with the most and least practicing physicians per 100,000 people. From the report, we also considered information on physician education, training and gender. All information from the AAMC is from 2010, and represents the most recently available data. 24/7 Wall St. also studied 2010 data on income, poverty and health insurance provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Additionally,we reviewed data on life expectancy, obesity and other health factors from The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

The number of medical device recalls governed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declined 13% compared with the previous quarter, but the number of products affected by such announcements broke 100 million units for the first time since the third quarter of 2010.

“The fact that more than 120 million medical device units were affected by recalls last quarter cannot be ignored, particularly because it comes during a time when America’s 50 million aging Baby Boomers are placing increasingly high demand on life-saving medical devices,” said a representative of Stericycle ExpertRECALL.

Companies affected by recent recalls include Coviden PLC (NYSE: COV), which this week announced a voluntary recall of some DGPHP RFA high-power single use grounding pads and Cool-tip RFA electrode kits that contain those pads. It also recently announced a voluntary global recall of some adult tracheostomy tubes.

CareFusion Corp. (NYSE: CFN) in June initated a recall of its EnVe ventilator due to potential risks they could compromise patient ventilation. The company also announced a voluntary recall of its AirLife Infant Breathing Circuit in May.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) in July recalled certain Architect Toco IGG Reagent kits. And General Electric Co.’s (NYSE: GE) medical systems unit recalled certain X-ray machines due to faulty wheels and casters.

And Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) this week recalled certain Hemorrhoidal circular staplers and accessories for potential risks of a misfire. Ouch.

All these stocks are up less than 1% in morning trading. Coviden is near $57.08 in a 52-week range of $41.35 to $57.86. CareFusion is near $27.14 in a 52-week range of $22.55 to $27.29. Abbott Labs is near $65.91 in a 52-week range of $48.63 to $67.45. And Johnson & Johnson is near $68.06 in a 52-week range of $60.83 to $69.75.

Trey Thoelcke

The company’s chairman and CEO sounded pleased:

Once again, our growth was broad-based across businesses and geographies and reflects the positive impact of well-executed product launches and stabilizing end-markets.

Medtronic reiterated its full 2013 fiscal year guidance for EPS of $3.62 to $3.70, up 5% to 7% from fiscal 2012 earnings. The consensus estimate for full-year EPS is $3.66. More cheerleading from the CEO:

I am confident that our market-leading portfolio and pipeline, coupled with our focus on globalization and economic value, provide us with significant opportunities for growth.

Medtronic did not complain about currency exchange rates although it well could have. Sales in its cardiac and vascular group rose 5% year-over-year on a constant currency basis, but declined 2% on currency rate effects. The largest piece of the company’s cardiac and vascular group actually posted a 2% drop in sales, even on a constant currency basis. The group’s sales of pacemakers fell 6%.

Shares are trading lower this morning, probably because there was no surprise upside. Meeting low expectations is no cause to celebrate, although Medtronic’s CEO was probably expecting a little more applause.

Medtronic’s shares are down about 3% in premarket trading at $40.15. The current 52-week range is $31.06 to $41.57. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $43.00 before today’s results were announced.

Paul Ausick

After a recent failure to breakout at resistance on the stock chart, Gilead’s shares have backed off and are now back under what had been a lower resistance level.  We cannot help but wonder just how ‘at-risk’ Gilead is to competition on its war on AIDS and HIV as the company’s hope is go from a 3-cocktail drug to Quad as a 4-cocktail drug to treat AIDS and HIV. Maybe the answer is “not at all,” but maybe it is becoming “more at-risk than in the past.”

A recent deal announced between Chimerix, a Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based outfit, and Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) will send Chimerix a $17.5 million upfront payment plus up to $151 million in additional payments based on milestones.   Merck effectively gains rights to its mid-stage antiviral program called CMX157 which could act as a new drug for future HIV cocktail treatments.

Earlier this year came news that a Merck cancer drug brought some hope as a new very small study involving the drug Zolinza, according to Bloomberg, could effectively ward off dormant HIV from immune cells that current therapy cannot fight.

Gilead’s Truvada has recently been given FDA approval as the first agent for HIV prevention in uninfected adults. Still, GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) said shortly before Truvada’s approval that a study of its HIV drug candidate called Dolutegravir showed that it was more effective than Gilead’s Atripla.

At $51.50, Gilead’s consensus analyst price target is almost $59.75 and its 52-week range is $34.45 to $56.50.  Thomson Reuters shows that revenue expectations are expected to grow from $9.21 billion in 2012 to $9.93 billion in 2013.  Earnings are also expected to grow from $3.77 EPS in 2012 to $4.42 EPS in 2013.

JON C. OGG

The new drug, called bapineuzumab, is the subject of four trials, two in North America and two outside North America. The study reported on last night included 1,100 patients in North America, while the second North American study includes 1,300 patients who do not carry the mutated gene.

Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) is also working on a treatment for Alzheimer’s, but the Pfizer/Elan drug is farther along in development. Current treatments for Alzheimer’s treat only the symptoms of the disease. The new drugs are attempting to discover therapies that will actually attack the mechanisms of Alzheimer’s. The market for a successful treatment could be as much as $10 billion.

Pfizer’s share price is down about 0.9% in the premarket at $23.39, in a 52-week range of $16.63 to $23.87.

Elan’s shares are off 17% in premarket trading at $11.21, in a 52-week range of $8.58 to $15.27.

Lilly’s stock is down 1.6% at $43.15, in a 52-week range of $33.75 to $44.67.

Paul Ausick

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) previously won FDA approval for its weight loss drug called Belviq, but VIVUS will get its drug on the market first. Qnexa, or Qsymia, acts as a combination of the appetite suppressant phentermine and the antiseizure drug called topiramate. VIVUS will begin marketing the drug in fourth quarter, while Arena has to wait for DEA classification and likely will not come to market until some time in early 2013.

The drug is expected to reach a blockbuster status ($1 billion or more in annual sales) and will have warnings about heart risks and birth defects. While the warnings seem severe, weight loss also indirectly targets (and can treat) diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke and other ailments tied to obesity.

Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) is currently studying and developing a weight-loss pill called Contrave with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.

Today is a weight loss and obesity trifecta as far as traders are concerned. VIVUS is up more than 16% at $30.85 (above the 52-week high of $29.99) in premarket trading, while Arena is down 6.7% at $10.30 versus a 52-week range of $1.23 to $13.50. Orexigen is up about 5% at $7.50 so far this morning.

JON C. OGG

The most recent deal in the biotech and emerging pharma sectors was Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) finally being acquired at a large premium by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY). The more than $5 billion deal was almost 50% higher than the price that analysts valued the company. So, who is next? 24/7 Wall St. has a regular list of merger candidates in biotech and emerging pharma, and here are some of the possible candidates. We have added color on each, if applicable.

First and foremost, it is important to consider who the buyers will generally be. Companies like AstraZeneca PLC (NYSE: AZN), Sanofi (NYSE: SNY), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) were all Amylin suitors, and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) was reportedly interested before backing out due to valuation of the company. Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) recently was cited as a possible buyer of Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) to fill its pipeline and to regain some momentum. Will Celgene look elsewhere?

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) often arises as a possible takeover name, but it is worth about $11.2 billion in its market capitalization, and that would put it on the high side of biotech M&A values. Shares have been very volatile on drug news of its own, as well. The Thomson Reuters consensus target of $66.40 compares to a share price of $52.85 and a 52-week high of $66.10.