Abbott to buy maker of heart valve repair devices for $400 million

Abbott Laboratories said it agreed to buy Evalve Inc., the maker of heart valve repair devices, for as much as $410 million.

Libertyville Township-based Abbott will pay $320 million in cash up front for the Menlo Park, California-based company and may pay $90 million more if certain regulatory milestones are met, the companies said Thursday, Sept., 10, in a statement.

Abbott said Sept. 2 it would buy Visiogen Inc., a maker of artificial lenses used for cataract patients, for $400 million as part of Chief Executive Officer Miles White's strategy to expand the company's product portfolio. The purchase of Evalve gives Abbott a presence in the field of non-surgical treatments for heart disease, the Abbott Park, Illinois-based company said in the statement.

"With this breakthrough mitral valve repair technology, physicians will be able to offer their patients a minimally invasive alternative to open heart surgery -- not unlike the opportunity that stents provided more than two decades ago for the treatment of coronary artery disease," John Capek, Abbott's executive vice president for medical devices, said in the statement.