2016 was a year of surprise and change in political circles, but that's nothing new for the medtech industry, which over a number of years has become accustomed to health care systems demanding different and ever-higher levels of service. Smart medtechs have been ahead of the curve, but the whole industry now factors in clients' wider needs in a holistic approach to patient care. Many companies' current M&A policies are already reflecting the changes to come.

Q3 medtech financing doubled in dollar volume to $3 billion, with debt offerings again representing the majority of the aggregate; acquisitions totaled $5.3 billion, mainly due to Johnson & Johnson’s $4.3 billion buy of Abbott Medical Optics. Diagnostics financings, which brought in $85 million, continued to decline, but at $5 billion, acquisitions showed a slight increase over the previous quarter, with Danaher’s takeover of Cepheid accounting for most of the M&A volume.

Medtech companies brought in $1.5 billion in Q2 2016, 15% less than Q1, with debt offerings accounting for more than half the total; acquisitions more than doubled due to Abbott's $25 billion takeover of St. Jude Medical. Diagnostics financings were down 34% from Q1 and acquisition volume, also lower, was mainly Thermo Fisher Scientific's $4.2 billion buy of FEI.

The $1 billion acquisition of the maker of the Mobi-C cervical disc replacement is expected to put Zimmer Biomet in a better position in the spine device market.