The 2017 Top 30 Global Medical Device Companies

In this year’s Top 30 company reports, a number of themes seem to be shared within the mission of each company. Among the conglomerate firms serving multiple industries, one of the most prominent is a centralization of medical device units into one unified medtech business. Further, companies dedicated exclusively to healthcare followed a similar strategy in divesting underperforming businesses or those unaligned with a medtech focus.

The top example would likely be Philips HealthTech (formerly Healthcare). The company created its new medical device-focused section based on four segments—Diagnostics & Treatment, Connected Care & Health Informatics, Personal Health, and Other. Meanwhile, the firm spun off its legacy lighting business. Baxter finalized its spinoff of biosciences-centric Baxalta, which was then acquired. Alcon, meanwhile, moved its ophthalmic pharmaceutical portfolio to parent company Novartis (possibly in preparation for a sale of the business).

Abbott may have made more headlines in 2016 for the controversies surrounding its acquisition targets—St. Jude Medical and Alere—but the company also put effort into streamlining a few units with the sale of its optics division to Johnson & Johnson, and a portion of its (and St. Jude’s) Vascular Closure and Electrophysiology products to Terumo Corporation.

Danaher finalized its shedding of Fortive, but the company moved down in this year’s list due to restructuring that resulted in a separate Diagnostics business. There were numerous other examples of restructuring, divestitures, spinoffs, and sales among a number of other companies documented in this year’s reports.

Finally, like every year, companies ascended and cascaded down the Top 30 list. This year, BD escalated along with Zimmer Biomet and Abbott, while Alcon, Fresenius, and Varian slipped. Sonova Holding fell off this list since last year while Hoya debuted. But for the first time in the 14 years MPO has produced the Top 30 list, a new company has overtaken Johnson & Johnson for the number 1 position. Due to the integration of its $50 billion Covidien purchase, Medtronic plc is now king of the hill and given the strength of the company, it’s unlikely to surrender the spot in 2018.

We hope you enjoy reviewing this year’s Top 30 reports.

Editors’ note: As you read our report, please take note that while the companies are ranked according to sales reported for FY 2016 (though we do provide some 2017 figures to date where possible), some may include non-device sales within a division, such as combination products, drug delivery, software, or device-related services. Not all companies explicitly break out the device portion of total revenues. We consulted numerous public documents and contacted company officials as needed to arrive at the best estimates. Also note that foreign currency conversions were done based on the exchange rate at the end of the fiscal reporting period being discussed.