In the fourth quarter, medical device companies raised $1.1 billion, a third of which was represented by follow-on public offerings. Acquisitions were strong overall, holding steady with 15 transactions - the same as Q3 - but only slightly less in money paid, $6 billion. In vitro diagnostic/research companies, like medical device, also ended 2010 on a high note, with funding totaling $511 million in Q4. The majority of the money spent on IVD/research acquisitions came from Thermo Fisher Scientific's buy of Dionex for $2.1 billion.

In the fourth quarter, medical device companies raised $1.1 billion, a third of which was represented by follow-on public offerings. Acquisitions were strong overall, holding steady with 15 transactions - the same as Q3 - but only slightly less in money paid, $6 billion. In vitro diagnostic/research companies, like medical device, also ended 2010 on a high note, with funding totaling $511 million in Q4. The majority of the money spent on IVD/research acquisitions came from Thermo Fisher Scientific's buy of Dionex for $2.1 billion.

The M&A market for medtech companies had already slowly started to climb off the mat after last year's collapse when Stryker and St. Jude Medical closed on two $1 billion-plus acquisitions. Still, Stryker's bid to acquire the neurovascular business of Boston Scientific and St. Jude's offer for structural heart disease company AGA Medical demonstrate how deep strategic acquirers are willing to dig to establish themselves in new markets.The combined price tag of $2.7 billion guaranteed that 2010 will be a better year for medical device mergers and acquisitions than 2009, at least as measured by disclosed prices paid.