Covidien, nearly a year removed from spinning out of scandal-plagued parent Tyco International, is pushing forward as an independent company. Covidien execs are investing in new product creation, sales and marketing efforts, and acquisitions. That means Covidien is about to make a big splash in the device industry, with devices bringing in two-thirds of this ambitious company's revenues.

Small company DexCom, finds itself a leader in continuous glucose monitoring, the hottest new segment of glucose monitoring, a business otherwise dominated by giant companies. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) is all the buzz at diabetes and critical care clinical meetings these days. CGM systems give diabetic patients in the home (or the hospital) glucose readings at any hour of the day without the need to get out the finger-stick testing paraphernalia. More than that, though, CGM is a new tool for achieving tight glycemic control, and avoiding the excursions above and below the normal glucose levels, which are responsible for the hospitalizations as well as the long-term harmful consequences of diabetes. As a frontrunner in the field, DexCom shares with Medtronic the challenge of proving the value of CGM to payers, especially since the task involves throwing over the gold standard by which successful glycemic control is measured-the HbA1c test.

The (literally) trials and tribulations of its parent, Tyco International, have been both irrelevant to its strongly performing medical device business, Tyco Healthcare, and maddeningly distracting at the same time. But it has shaped the company's strategy, most notably in moving the company away from acquisitions as an engine of growth, forcing Tyco Healthcare to focus more on R&D and new product development.