Medtronic (Minneapolis) is set to pump up its cardiovascular business by agreeing to buy two heart valve companies for a combined value of $1.025 billion. The company said it would pay $700 million plus additional milestone payments for CoreValve (Irvine, California) and that it would buy Ventor Technologies (Netanya, Israel) for $325 million. Medtronic is targeting a leadership role in aortic transcatheter valves, according to a company statement. (Medical Device Daily)

There are a number of good cancer tests designed to catch the disease as soon as it shows up, but one company believes it has found a way to detect signs of whole-body cancers long before the disease is even present. GlycoMeds (Phoenix) says its Cancer Test is a broad-scope test that detects conditions within the body that allow cancer cell growth prior to cancer cells being active. (Diagnostics & Imaging Week)