These 7 trends matter the most for medtech in 2019

There’s still a lot of M&A

They may not be as large as Medtronic’s $50 billion acquisition of Covidien, which closed in early 2015, but mergers and acquisitions continue at a fast pace in the medical device industry. Companies are snapping up new technologies and seeking expanded capabilities as they seek to compete in a rapidly evolving healthcare market.

Here are some of the notable deals so far this year:

• Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX)  is seeking to acquire London-based BTG (LON:BTG) for $4 billion.
• 3M (NYSE:MMM) announced in May that it would pay more than $6.7 billion to buy wound care giant Acelity.
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced in April that its Ethicon business had completed its $3.4 billion acquisition of robotic surgery dev Auris Health,as well as the $2.8 billion divestiture of its Advanced Sterilization Products to Fortive (NTSE:FTV).
• The U.S. Federal Trade Commission in April gave final approval to Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE:FMS; ETR:FRE) for its $2 billion acquisition of NxStage Medical, which initially closed in February.
• Cantel Medical (NYSE:CMD) said last month that it would spend $775 million to acquire dental instruments maker Hu-Friedy.
• Boston Sci in June closed on its $465 million buyout of spinal implant maker Vertiflex.
• Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN) earlier this year closed its acquisition of  Brainlab‘s orthopedic joint reconstruction biz.
•  Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Ethicon paid $400 million in cash to Takeda Pharmaceutical (TSE:4502;NYSE:TAK) for its TachSil fibrin patch.
• ConMed (NSDQ:CNMD) in February closed on its $365 million buy of Buffalo Filter from the Filtration Group.
• Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) in June offered a total $316 million for Epix Therapeutics and its DiamondTemp catheter-based radiofrequency cardiac ablation system.
• RTI Surgical (NSDQ:RTIX) in March closed on its $300 million purchase of Paradigm Spine and its Coflex lumbar stenosis device.

Next>>