Medtech In 2014: M&A, IPOs Bounce Back As Industry Glimpses Future Business Models

The year 2014 was a heady one for medtech M&A, with bigger deals and more invested in them than ever before – $89.3 billion, according to Informa’s Strategic Transactions.

A lot of the 2014 M&A impetus was driven by pressures in the US to find a way around the high corporate tax rate. (See Also see "Biopharma In 2014: Early Access Gains Offset Taxation, Pricing Woes" - In Vivo, 21 January, 2015..) It turned out that the other US tax – the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s 2.3% tax on medtech sales – was less of a problem, but it remained as vilified as ever by US market entrants as 2014 turned into 2015