Recent regulatory events and dealmaking highlight an increase in the pace of innovation in rapid infectious disease testing.

The firm's health-care division bought private next-generation sequencing firm NEO New Oncology for an undisclosed amount.

Although prostate problems have plagued men for many years, the growing elderly population is now driving an unprecedented increase in caseloads and a corresponding need for improved treatments. One of the primary concerns is the rise in prostate cancer diagnoses. With more than two million American men currently living with prostate cancer and more than 200,000 new cases diagnosed each year, the market for diagnostic and therapeutic products to address this disease is substantial; more than $2 billion in the US in 2007.

Looking back on 2007 through the lens of acquisition activity reveals a lot about the current dynamics in the medtech industry. According to Windhover's Strategic Transactions Database, many of the 80 medical devices companies that were acquired last year came from the perennially hot orthopedics and cardiovascular markets. But in 2007, buyers found their targets in clinical areas that are starting to heat up: patient monitoring, in vitro diagnostics, minimally invasive surgery, and women's health. The acquirers themselves were a mixed bag--for a change, traditional buyers didn't make up the largest share. In fact, those billion dollar plus companies were as likely to divest as to acquire in 2007.