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.

Abbott and St. Jude Medical are to lighten their cardiovascular portfolios – and hopefully facilitate the completion of Abbott's pending $25bn acquisition of St. Jude – by selling three product lines to Terumo. Two of the three product lines to be divested come as little surprise, but one product was acquired by Abbott only earlier this year.

The market for atrial fibrillation catheter ablation devices continues to grow even as the field wrestles with basic questions and as new study results may dampen enthusiasm for some technologies. Though strategics dominate this sector, innovators with new approaches to ablation and mapping hope to help resolve unknowns and take a piece of this vast and underpenetrated market.

Device companies raised 50% more in Q1 2016 than the previous quarter, reaching $1.8 billion and led by debt offerings; diagnostic imaging acquisitions, such as Toshiba Medical Systems, were abundant. Diagnostics financings double in Q1, mostly from venture funding, including strong showing from liquid biopsy companies.