Third-quarter device financing at $2.38 billion – almost half of that amount from CooperSurgical's $1.1 billion bridge loan – was double the Q2 total, while device acquisitions showed a steep decrease at $3.38 billion versus Q2's $33.4 billion. Diagnostics fundraising also was up in the third quarter, reaching $2.4 billion (a 133% increase over Q2) mostly from Thermo Fisher Scientific's $1.5 billion follow-on offering, which accounted for 63% of the total. In line with the previous quarter's $1.7 billion in M&A, Q3 diagnostics acquisitions had an aggregate value of $1.8 billion, led by Konica Minolta's $1 billion buy of Ambry Genetics.

Most of the large, diversified medtech companies have now reported their sales and earnings for the second quarter and first half of 2017. All of the companies in this category reported revenue growth and promised investment in new technologies across all their businesses, but a Baxter and Cardinal Health stand out as having especially successful quarters. Abbott is still trying to overcome major challenges, and J&J is turning around its medical device businesses under new leadership.

Alere is selling its Epocal point-of-care blood diagnostics subsidiary to Siemens Healthineers to comply with US antitrust requirements in advance of its pending acquisition by Abbott. Siemens plans to integrate Epocal's epoc blood analysis system with its digital platforms and its existing point-of-care diagnostics.