While its traditional competitors are active in devices or capital equipment, Philips has set itself apart with its committed investment in health informatics, says CEO Frans van Houten, who wants to position the group as a leader in integrated care models.

Endovascular aortic repair specialist Endologix has promoted its COO John Onopchenko to the role of chief executive. He succeeds John McDermott, who stepped down as CEO in February following a couple of challenging years for the company.

The digital revolution looks to be sweeping across different industries, which are now fully embracing technologies around connectivity, big data and artificial intelligence to drive innovation and better outcomes. Health care seems to have come late to this party, but changes are happening as medtech companies make a concerted effort to incorporate the advanced computing capabilities needed to turn devices into smart machines that are constantly learning and adapting. Surgery is one area that will benefit from these smart technologies and Scott Huennekens, CEO of Verb Surgical, tells Medtech Insight how the J&J/Verily joint venture aims to make this happen.

Device and diagnostics fundraising slumped in Q2, but there was a substantial uptick in M&A activity. Device financings totaled just slightly over half of the previous quarter, while acquisitions grew almost six-fold, thanks primarily to Becton Dickinson's $23.5 billion play for CR Bard. Financing in diagnostics slid to $1.03 billion, less than half of Q1, whereas the $1.7 billion in M&As (most of that from PerkinElmer's $1.3 billion buy of EuroImmun) was more than double Q1's aggregate.