3. Hurricane Maria
The medical device industry is not immune from extreme weather events such as hurricanes, which are predicted to intensify in coming decades thanks to climate change caused by greenhouse gases. Puerto Rico is still recovering from Hurricane Maria in September. The U.S. territory is home to facilities for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Amgen (NSDQ:AMGN), Merck, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) , Abbott (NYSE:ABT), Stryker (NYSE:SYK) and dozens of others, according to a Bloomberg report.FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb noted in early December that many firms continue to run on generator power; their production levels cannot return to baseline levels.