The dealmaking machine that is Sanofi-Aventis is at it again, signing an oncology drug pact with Avila Therapeutics in Waltham, Massachusetts, worth $40 million up front and up to $154 million in milestone payments per program. Overall, the deal is valued at $800 million, according to FierceBiotech.

Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Truvada, sold to subdue the AIDS- causing virus in those already infected, cut the risk gay and bisexual men had of contracting HIV by 44 percent when taken in a daily dose, according to findings published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.

Heads of state, health care officials, ordinary citizens — and the Wall Street Journal and New York Times — are tracking the advance of swine flu across the world. Roche is ready to deliver up to 3 million doses of its anti-viral medicine, Tamiflu.