3. Massachusetts
Previous ranking: 3
Medical device industry employment (2019): 15,342
Medical device industry establishments (2019): 303
Major medical device company headquarters (2019): 7
Medical device patents (2019): 512
Medical device VC investments (2019): $385M
Medical device VC deals (2019): 29
Best States for Business ranking (2019): 19
Massachusetts may not have the medical device industry employment levels of some states. But it still deserves to be among the top three medtech states because of its large number of major company headquarters and the hundreds of millions of public and private dollars annually spent on innovation.
The Bay State is a medical research powerhouse. Its top research hospitals are among the best in the nation: Mass General, Brigham & Women’s, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children’s, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Dana Farber. In 2018 alone, these seven institutions secured thousands of NIH awards totaling $2.89 billion — up from $2.7 billion a year before, according to a Grant Thornton report prepared for trade group MassMEDIC.
Add in $499 million in medical device venture capital and headquarters of companies including Boston Scientific, Hologic, Bruker, Haemonetics, Abiomed, Insulet and NxStage Medical, and it’s little wonder that Grant Thornton found that Massachusetts leads on PMAs and 510(k) clearances when the numbers are adjusted for the size of state GDP.
Nearly a quarter of Massachusetts’ exports involve medical devices, a larger portion than any other state, according to Grant Thornton.
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Notable medical device industry suppliers
Freudenberg Medical announced in 2018 that its headquarters would be located at a new facility in Beverly. The company expects the new headquarters to open this fall. Freudenberg also has a silicone manufacturing facility in Gloucester.
BMP Medical (Sterling) produces highly precise plastic consumables used in devices and diagnostic kits.
Eagle Stainless Tube & Fabrication (Franklin) specializes in fabricated products in stainless steel, nickel alloys, aluminum and titanium — including ultra-high precision, cut-to-length, stainless steel tube & bar.
maxon (Taunton) provides precision drives for insulin pumps, prostheses, active implants and more.
Software company PTC is in Boston.
Resonetics — a laser micro manufacturer — has a facility in Nashua, N.H.
Tecomet (Wilmington) specializes in forged, cast and machined orthopedic implants, precision surgical instruments, sterilization cases/trays and photochemical etched products.
Tegra Medical (Franklin) produces components and complete devices for surgical and interventional companies. Offerings range from prototyping to full production, and from components to finished medical devices.
Testing outfit Toxikon is in Bedford.
Viant (previously MedPlast and Integer Advanced Surgical & Orthopedics) announced in 2018 that it was moving its headquarters to Foxborough.
Design outfit Ximedica is based nearby in Providence, R.I.
Hobson & Motzer (Durham, Conn.) makes precision metal components and assemblies for advanced industries.
Custom injection molder Vaupell (Seattle) has a Hudson, N.H. location.