The Medical Device M&A Landscape: 2025 in Review and 2026 Outlook

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Medical device and diagnostics M&A picked up sharply in 2025. PwC counted $97.6 billion in medtech deal value for the year, a decade high, and Bain & Company reported about $80 billion through November 30, more than in any of the previous three years, with the second half much stronger than the first. The two figures come from different firms with different methods and periods. For investors with device portfolios, what matters more than the headline total is what the largest buyers paid for and what they examined before signing.

This review covers the starting point coming out of 2024, the largest transactions of 2025 and early 2026, the features those deals share, and what they mean for diligence.

Coming Out of 2024

2024 was not a quiet year by deal count. According to figures cited by Goodwin, medtech companies announced 305 M&A transactions in 2024, the second-highest count in a decade behind 2021, and venture-backed medical device M&A rose to 14 deals from nine in 2023. Medical device venture investment rose to $7.5 billion from $6.5 billion. What changed in 2025 was the size of the largest deals.

The Largest Transactions

• Abbott and Exact Sciences: announced November 20, 2025, at $105 per share in cash, about $21 billion in equity value, giving Abbott a position in cancer screening and precision oncology diagnostics. Abbott said the deal was set to close on March 23, 2026.
• Blackstone and TPG and Hologic: a take-private for up to $18.3 billion, announced October 21, 2025, at $76 per share in cash plus a contingent value right of up to $3 per share tied to revenue metrics; the acquisition was completed in April 2026.
• Boston Scientific and Penumbra: an agreement announced January 15, 2026, at an enterprise value of about $14.5 billion in cash and stock, adding neurovascular and thrombectomy devices.
• Stryker and Inari Medical: completed February 19, 2025, for about $4.9 billion, adding Inari's FlowTriever and ClotTriever systems for venous thromboembolism and, in Stryker's words, providing entry into the peripheral vascular segment.
• Zimmer Biomet and Paragon 28: completed April 21, 2025, at $13 per share in cash plus a contingent value right of up to $1 per share tied to revenue milestones, expanding Zimmer Biomet's foot and ankle business.

What the Deals Have in Common

Several of these transactions share features worth noting for diligence, without reading them as a forecast:

• Contingent consideration: the Hologic and Paragon 28 deals paid part of the price through contingent value rights tied to revenue, which shifts some valuation risk to sellers and makes the target's revenue trajectory a negotiated term.
• Established commercial positions: the largest device acquisitions bought companies with products already on the market and established revenue.
• Entry into adjacent segments: Stryker described Inari as its entry into peripheral vascular, and Abbott described Exact Sciences as its entry into cancer screening; buyers used acquisitions to reach segments they did not already serve.

What This Means for Diligence

For VC and PE investors with device portfolios, these transactions point to the questions acquirers examine: how durable the revenue is behind any contingent payment metric; clinical differentiation and the evidence behind it; reimbursement position; regulatory status and quality systems; and whether manufacturing can supply a larger commercial organization. Companies that document these well are easier to diligence, whatever the deal climate. See clinical and engineering risk in medtech deals, our manufacturing due diligence questions and our reimbursement red flags.

What to Watch in 2026

PwC tracked $36.5 billion in medtech deals in the first half of 2026, with volumes and values running above the first half of 2025. How the pending transactions close, and whether that pace holds, is worth following rather than predicting.

The Bottom Line

2025 was a year of large medtech transactions, with buyers paying for established commercial positions and, in several deals, using contingent payments to share risk. For portfolio companies, the practical lesson is to document clinical differentiation, regulatory clarity, reimbursement strategy and commercial execution in a form an acquirer's diligence team can verify.

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