The first quarter of 2008 saw a dearth in financings for both the medical device and in vitro diagnostics segments. In the former, volume fell short of the billion dollar mark while the latter failed to reach the success the previous quarter had witnessed, despite completing an equal number of transactions. M&A in medical devices didn't look any more promising, bringing in $1.6 billion, a huge slide from the impressive $10 billion total of 2007's fourth quarter. However, there was one bright spot: acquisitions within in vitro diagnostics/research reagents substantially increased to $3.1 billion from the $370 million spent in the previous three months, led by Inverness Medical Innovations' $1.1 billion takeover of Matria Healthcare Inc. Also noteworthy: oncology diagnostics alliances grew slowly and steadily thanks to increasing attention from larger companies.

Brief summaries of recent medtech market and industry developments. This month we cover secondary buyers as an exit strategy for Boston Scientific and others; a review of medtech dealmaking in the first quarter of 2008, and US markets for patient monitoring products.