The return of a Republican president to power in last month's US elections showed – for the second time in 2016 – that punditry can be misleading and opinion polls do not always equate with reality. With just a few weeks to President Trump's inauguration, ZS Associates' Brian Chapman gives an early appraisal of how the new administration might view the health care brief in general and the medtech industry in particular.

This February, Medtronic. announced it was canceling five cardiovascular and orthopedic contracts-reported to be worth $2 billion a year-with GPO Novation, which negotiates deals on behalf of more than 1,600 hospitals. The action has the potential to change how product contracts with hospitals are negotiated, but at this point, it is hard to say if it represents a burgeoning trend that others will follow or just another mêlée in the long history of turbulent device manufacturer/GPO relations.

The single-use device reprocessing and remanufacturing market is an estimated $200+ million business and growing fast thanks to cost containment pressures and the waning of early controversy surrounding the practice. By nearly any measure--including the number of facilities, number of approved products, and dollars both spent and saved--the SUD reprocessing industry is making a noteworthy impact on health care delivery in the US.

Following the sale of Boston Scientific's venture portfolio, secondary buyers are positioning themselves as possible purchases of venture capital portfolios.