Device fundraising in the fourth quarter totaled $1.5bn, a 42% decrease from Q3's $2.6bn. Q4 M&A activity reached $8.6bn. Q4 diagnostics financings brought in $1.2bn (a 32% increase over Q3) and M&As totaled $1.3bn (the second-highest quarter of the year).

Reported sales and earnings from the big publicly traded orthopedics device companies showed mostly slow growth in 2018, but NuVasive and Stryker reported high single-digit growth while, Smith & Nephew grew in the low single-digits, fueling reports that Smith & Nephew may try to buy NuVasive.

Reported sales and earnings from the publicly traded orthopedics device companies showed mix results during the third quarter of 2018. NuVasive was the star performer in the group while, on the other end of the spectrum, Stryker continued to show strong growth across most its businesses, while Johnson & Johnson's orthopedic device revenue was near flat.</p>