Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) said Monday it plans to bolster its lineup of stroke-prevention products by buying Micrus Endovascular Corp. (MEND) for about $480 million, marking the latest deal in a neurovascular-device market that appears to be heating up.
J&J’s planned purchase of San Jose, Calif.-based Micrus comes weeks after rival Covidien PLC (COV) announced plans to buy ev3 Corp. (EVVV), a Micrus rival, for $2.6 billion. Leerink Swann analyst Rick Wise said the Covidien-ev3 combination may have spurred on J&J due to a hospital-purchasing trend of focusing more on …
