2015's Biggest Medtech Companies

Stryker's GetAroundKnee boasts a single-radius design, enabling the knee to have the same radius when flexed.

10. Stryker

$9.0 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2013

Stryker for the first half of 2014 saw its sales rise nearly 7% year over year, to nearly $4.7 billion. But its earnings have been taking a beating, down three-fifths to $198 million. Profits have been especially hurt because of settlements related to Rejuvinate all-metal hip implant lawsuits. Stryker has been setting aside funds to cover $790 million to $1.2 billion in losses related to the lawsuits, according to its most recent annual report.

The Kalamazoo, MI–based ortho devices maker announced earlier this year that it is rounding out its portfolio through the acquisition of Small Bone Innovations Inc. (Sbi), a privately held company headquartered in Morrisville, PA, at a net cost of $285 million. The deal included SBi's Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement System, referred to as the STAR Ankle. Sbi touted their STAR Ankle, sold globally in over 40 countries, as the only PMA approved,cementless, three-piece total ankle replacement system.

Novartis reportedly would like to have a prototype using Google “smart lens” technology ready for research and development reviews by early next year.

9. Novartis AG

$10.5 billion in revenue in its Alcon division (eye care products) in the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2013

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis’ vision care products division Alcon makes up 18% of its revenue. Alconrevenue was up 3% in 2013.

When the news came out in January that Google planned to develop a contact lens that could help diabetics keep track of their blood glucose levels, company officials said they were looking for partners with expertise in bringing such products to market.

That seems to be exactly what Google has found in the Novartis' Alcon, which has agreed to in-license Google’s “smart lens” technology for all ocular medical uses.

Cardinal Health in June announced the 2 millionth shipment of the Mynx VascularClosureDevice (VCD).

8. Cardinal Health

$11.0 billion in revenue in its medical device segment in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014

One of the more exciting pieces of medical device news for Dublin, OH–based Cardinal Health came in April, when it announced it would spend $320 million to acquire AccessClosure and its extravascular closure devices technology. AccessClosure’s Mynx family of patient-friendly vascular closure devices helps physicians seal the femoral artery using a unique, secure sealant. The sealant dissolves within 30 days, leaving nothing behind but a healed artery. The idea is to allow patients to safely ambulate more quickly—enabling them to get home faster.

The company’s Medical Segment saw revenue grow 9%, to nearly $11 billion, for the fiscal year ended June 30, even as overall revenue declined 10%, to $91 billion. (Much of Cardinal Health’s revenue comes from pharmaceuticals.)

Becton, Dickinson and Co. in August announced the retail pharmacy launch of the BDAutoShield Duo, which it boasts as the only pen needle with patented dual front and back-end shields to provide greater convenience and safety before and after injecting.

7. BD

$11.9 billion in combined annual revenue following merger with CareFusion

Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD)
$8.1 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2013

CareFusion
$3.8 billion in sales in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014

Franklin Lakes, NJ–based Becton, Dickinson (BD) announced in early October that it will spend $12 billion to acquire San Diego–based CareFusion in a deal expected to close in the first half of 2015. The two companies combined have experienced annual revenue of $11.9, so the merger should create one of the 10 largest medical device companies in the world. This is certainly a pretty strategic acquisition where each company brings something to the table.

Medtech giant BD has a more bread-and-butter lineup of medical supplies, devices, lab equipment and diagnostic products. Its product lineup includes disposable needles, syringes and intravenous catheters. CareFusion’s flagship product lines are more high tech and include patient identification systems, the Pyxis automated dispensing device, the Alaris IV device, ventilators, skin prep products, infection surveillance systems and surgical instruments.

BD plans for CareFusion to operate as part of its medical business.

CareFusion comes with some baggage though. The company has seen 10 serious recalls since the start of 2012. And early this year, it agreed to pay the federal government $40.1 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks and promoting its products for uses that were not FDA-approved.

Philips Healthcare is investigating the use of Google Glass as a way to augment the information that its patient monitoring systems provide. The system is still experimental.

6. Koninklijke Philips Electronics

$12.1 billion (9.6 billion Euros) in revenue in its  Philips Healthcare division in the fiscal year ended Dec. 31 2013. (Note: Philips has plans to make this business unit independent.)

The Dutch multinational industrial giant has been grappling with a challenging economic environment in Western Europe and the United States. Early in the summer, Philips announced that its top health care executive DeborahDiSanzo had left the company amid disappointing earnings results. Then in September, Philips announced it would separate its healthcare and lighting businesses, with the possibility of spinning off the new lighting company with an IPO by 2016. There was more rough news for Philips Healthcare in early October: a U.S. federal jury's decision to award Irvine, CA–based Masimo Corp. $467 million in a patent infringement case against the Dutch multinational. Philips plans to appeal the decision.

In 2013, Fresenius announced that it had produced 1 billion dialyzers since the company was founded. Shown here is a cross-section of a dialyzer from the company, which are used to filter out toxins from the blood in dialysis.

5. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGAA

$14.6 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2013

The biggest provider of kidney dialysis products and services, Fresenius Medical Care has been named to Forbes’ World’s Most Innovative companies in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Last year, the company ranked as the sixth largest medical device firm.

Siemens Healthcare in May announced FDA clearance for the Artis One—an angiography system boasting low space requirements. It is designed for routine interventions, including revascularizations of peripheral vessel occlusions, functional tests of dialysis shunts in patients with kidney failure, diagnostic or minimally invasive angiographic treatment of narrowed coronary arteries, and pacemaker implantations. Siemens announced in late September that St. Johns Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit has become the first U.S. healthcare facility to install the Artis.

4. Siemens AG

$17.3 billion in sales (13.6 billion Euros) in its healthcare sector in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2013

As in the case of GE and Philips, Siemens is another huge conglomerate seeking focus on its healthcare business amid flat sales. As part of the strategy, the German multinational earlier this year announced it was selling its healthcare IT business to Cerner Corp. for $1.3 billion.

Along with headwinds from the strength of the Euro, Siemens has blamed weak economic conditions in Europe, uncertainty in the healthcare market, the excise tax on medical devices in the U.S., and—as with other multinationals—slowing growth in China.

(Note: Siemens' health IT business has about $1.2 billion in annual revenue, according to Reuters.)

GE’s Vscan pocket-sized ultrasound system GE has won a slew of awards.

3. General Electric Co.

$18.2 billion in revenue in its healthcare segment in the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2013

The conglomerate has a diversified range of products, making everything from CT scanners to jet engines. The company recently announced that it is selling its famed appliance division amidst sluggish sales. Healthcare is another sector where the company is experiencing soft results.

The company’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt, however, is committed to its healthcare. Just on Monday, October 6, the company announced that GE Healthcare CEO John Dineen was leaving, to be replaced by John Flannery, who had been GE’s senior vice president of business development.

The Micra pacemaker, billed by Medtronic as the world’s smallest, is an order of magnitude smaller than current generation pacemakers. Medtronic developed the device in house, as we detailed in the article “How Medtronic Made the World's Smallest Pacemaker.”

2. Medtronic plc

Assuming the merger goes through as planned, Medtronic and Covidien would have roughly $27.2 billion a year in sales between them.

Medtronic
$17 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended April 25, 2014

Covidien
$10.2 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended Sept. 27, 2013

By acquiring Covidien for $43 billion, Medtronic could give J&J a run for its money as the company with the largest device and diagnostics business. In 2013, J&J had nearly $28.1 billion in sales—roughly $10 billion more than its nearest competitor, Siemens. But Medtronic plc would be $27 billion-a-year company in itself. On top of that, both Medtronic and Covidien already had an aggressive plan to expand their presence in emerging markets. In 2015, it’s anybody’s guess which medical device company will bring in the most revenue.

The ThermoCool Smart Touch catheter from J&J’s Biosense Webster division became the first catheter ablation device with direct-contact force technology to win FDA approval. The device offers real-time measurement of contact force during catheter ablation, enabling it to monitor atrial fibrillation.

1. Johnson & Johnson

$28.1 billion in sales in J&J’s Medical Devices and Diagnostics segment in the fiscal year ended Dec. 30, 2013

Johnson & Johnson stakes claim to “the world’s largest medical devices and diagnostics business,” and it is aggressively defending that title. The company says it will unveil more than 30 major products by the end of 2016. J&J is also aggressively expanding into emerging markets and has a nearly $2 billion annual R&D budget.