The disruptive medtech M&A of recent years was not matched in the past year for volume, but there were isolated outbreaks of major activity, as shown in our company rankings. 

The rising aging population and ever-increasing incidences of glaucoma and cataract are clearing a bright path for the ophthalmic surgical products market, which is expected to reach $9.4bn by 2021, a CAGR of 4.6% from 2016. Meddevicetracker expects that continued innovation in minimally invasive technologies and next-generation surgical systems, developed by giants like Alcon and smaller rivals, will address the need of hundreds of millions of people suffering from cataract and glaucoma, the two leading causes of blindness globally. In this feature, we'll take a closer look at the overall market and the key players in the individual segments of surgical systems, surgical instruments and IOLs. We'll take a deep dive into the smallest, yet fastest-growing MIGS devices segment and talk to surgeons about how they're transforming glaucoma management for their patients.

Carl Zeiss Meditec has strengthened its cataract surgical offering by acquiring an intelligent cloud-based data management platform to facilitate cataract surgery planning, management and analysis.

Restoring the eyes' ability to accommodate and seamlessly focus on near and far objects continues to be the holy grail in ophthalmology. Accommodating intraocular lenses offer one approach to tackle presbyopia and allow patients the possibility of eschewing reading glasses. LensGen is one company going down that road and it successfully raised $21m in series A financing – with major optical lens maker Hoya among its backers – in April to advance its fluid-based accommodating IOL, Juvene.