Boston Scientific Corp. has agreed to pay $70 million plus future milestone payments to buy a Texas company's portfolio of tiny drug-filled medical devices intended to treat advanced liver cancer and uterine fibroids.

San Antonio-based CeloNova Biosciences executives agreed to sell their interventional radiology portfolio to Boston Scientific, which is based in Marlborough, Mass., and employs more than 5,000 people in Arden Hills and Maple Grove.

Boston Scientific executives said this year they wanted to expand their slate of oncology interventions, and the company already sells devices used in cancer interventions, including micro-catheters and guide wires.

The deal with CeloNova announced Tuesday enhances Boston Scientific's ability to sell products treating liver cancer, which is diagnosed in more than 700,000 people worldwide per year, with high concentrations in China and eastern Asian nations, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International.

The European Union has approved commercial sales of CeloNova's Embozene Tandem Microspheres for treatment of liver cancer, and a U.S. trial of microspheres for the common cancer is expected to start before the year is out. Such microspheres treat the cancer by blocking blood flow to the tumor site while slowly releasing a chemotherapy drug like doxorubicin.

CeloNova already has U.S. and European approval to sell similar Embozene and Oncozene microspheres to treat the vascular tangles known as arteriovenous malformations, and difficult-to-remove tumors that contain many blood vessels, including uterine fibroids. In January, CeloNova got European approval to sell Embozene microspheres to treat prostate enlargement known as benign prostatic hyperplasia.

"We are confident that the significant clinical scale and commercial reach of Boston Scientific will help expand the value of these innovative technologies, bringing the benefits of these therapies to more patients around the world," CeloNova CEO Martin Landon said in a statement.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Boston Scientific executives expect the deal to have no material impact on adjusted earnings in 2016 and then become accretive thereafter. CeloNova's products are made in Carlsbad, Calif., and Ulm, Germany.

Joe Carlson • 612-673-4779

Twitter: @_JoeCarlson