This week, we learned that the US FDA thinks Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain interface device isn’t ready for human trials.  Additionally, J&J cut about 300 medtech jobs, Stryker launched a knee implant, and Active Implants’ meniscus replacement device made it to the FDA’s advisory panel calendar. 

SVB health care advisor Jonathan Norris anticipates more consolidation in devices ahead with many mid-cap public companies looking to acquire innovative technologies to grow, and pushing the “big guys to have to figure out how to move faster.”

Synchron has high hopes that after successfully implanting the first minimally invasive neural brain-computer interface device in a human, it will eventually be able to give a "voice" to patients, including paralyzed individuals, who are unable to communicate. The company is conducting clinical trials and is hoping to use the data to apply for US FDA approval of the Stentrode device.

Third-quarter device financing at $2.38 billion – almost half of that amount from CooperSurgical's $1.1 billion bridge loan – was double the Q2 total, while device acquisitions showed a steep decrease at $3.38 billion versus Q2's $33.4 billion. Diagnostics fundraising also was up in the third quarter, reaching $2.4 billion (a 133% increase over Q2) mostly from Thermo Fisher Scientific's $1.5 billion follow-on offering, which accounted for 63% of the total. In line with the previous quarter's $1.7 billion in M&A, Q3 diagnostics acquisitions had an aggregate value of $1.8 billion, led by Konica Minolta's $1 billion buy of Ambry Genetics.