This week, the FDA issued a cybersecurity threat to gene sequencing platforms from Illumina and Amazon announced it was getting out of the fitness wearables business, while researchers announced a breakthrough in Parkinson's diagnostics.

During Q4, biopharma merger and acquisition value reached $35.7bn and drew in $62.1bn in potential deal value from alliances. Device company M&A values reached $19.2bn, while in vitro diagnostic firms and research tools players completed M&A activity that totaled $4.8bn.

Boston Scientific announced it will buy medical device company Acotec in an effort to further strengthen its presence in the Chinese market. 

A number of new medicines are moving closer to the EU market after the European Medicines Agency recommended in favor of their approval.