The 2024 Medtech Big 100 — Ranking the world’s largest medical device companies
Each year, Medical Design & Outsourcing collects thousands of data points to rank and analyze the largest medical device companies in the world, including publicly traded companies and privately held firms.
The Medtech Big 100 includes annual revenue, R&D spending, headcount, CEOs and key leaders, headquarters locations and descriptions of each company — or medical device business units within larger companies such as Abbott and Johnson & Johnson, which have significant pharma businesses.
We gather the data from regulatory disclosures filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and annual reports from foreign and privately held firms. For many companies, we include data they share with us — straight from the CEO, in one case. This year we also opened an application process for companies to nominate themselves for inclusion among the 100 largest medtech companies.
A majority of the companies on the list have fiscal years that operate on standard calendar years, but some have fiscal years for which we’ve collected data as recently as April 2024.
We used fiscal 2023 data for companies with fiscal years that end in June or September such as Accuray, Asahi Intecc, BD, Cardinal Health, Carl Zeiss, Cochlear, Electromed, Embecta, Hologic, ResMed and Siemens Healthineers because their annual reports don’t come out before production time.
Please note that companies that report financial results in foreign currencies have been converted to U.S. dollars using standardized Federal Reserve rates for the revenue and R&D rankings.
Medtech Big 100 movers and shakers
Mergers, acquisitions and spinoffs were the key trends in this year’s Medtech Big 100. Many companies near the bottom of our list in previous years — such as Silk Road Medical and Axonics — have struck deals to be acquired by top 20 medtech companies.
M&A also consolidated the revenue of companies that combined, such as the Globus Medical and NuVasive merger that moved Globus up our ranking.
We also saw a number of spinoffs, including Solventum, the 3M Health Care spinoff that’s now in its first year as a publicly-traded company. Zimmer Biomet spinoff ZimVie dropped down our list when it divested its spine and bone healing businesses to become a pure-play dental company — but the spine and bone healing businesses made their Medtech Big 100 debut as Highridge Medical.
One of the biggest stories in medtech — the ongoing Philips Respironics ventilator and CPAP recalls — pushed Royal Philips down a spot. The market disruption also allowed other companies to move up our list: Inspire Medical Systems grew its obstructive sleep apnea implant business significantly, while CPAP developer ResMed also increased its rank.
Click through the listings below to learn more about the companies powering the global medical device industry, and read more about the 2024 Medtech Big 100 in the September issue of Medical Design & Outsourcing.
–Managing Editor Jim Hammerand and Senior Editor Danielle Kirsh
2024 Medtech Big 100 coverage
- Analysis: M&A drives 2024 Medtech Big 100 growth in sales, R&D spending and total employment
- The biggest medtech deals of the last year offer a 2025 Medtech Big 100 preview
- These five medtech companies just missed the Medtech Big 100 list
- Medtech booster Frank Jaskulke on M&A, spinoffs, layoffs and Medtech Big 100 trends
- Holly Scott: How to build your career amid medtech M&A, spinoffs and layoffs