The US Federal Trade Commission has finally approved Fresenius' $2bn acquisition of NxStage Medical. A complaint filed by the FTC in February 2019 claimed the deal would be anti-competitive.

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.

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) affects 600,000 Americans, striking over 120,000 people a year, and most of these patients require renal replacement therapy, such as hemodialysis. For most, that means a several-hour treatment, three times a week, at a dedicated outpatient center run by a service company like DaVita, Inc., or Fresenius Medical Care. But getting dialyzed at home is another option. Just under 2% of patients do home hemodialysis (HHD) today, but a growing number of companies are betting that this number could increase substantially.