Philips has agreed to acquire US-based medical device maker Volcano Corp for $1.2 billion including debt, its largest healthcare acquisition in seven years and an effort to cash in on more complex treatments for an aging population. Philips said the acquisition would lead to synergies in research and development and sales, and would add to Philips’ earnings per share by 2017, Reuters said. Volcano makes imaging catheters that can be inserted into veins to make ultrasound scans of the interiors of blood vessels, in order to conduct internal surgery without putting patients under the knife.
