Device financing decreased to $734 million in Q3, less than half the Q2 total, and the $4.9 billion in M&As was a sharp decline versus Q2. Diagnostics fundraising, at $399 million, showed a 31% drop from Q2, and Merck KGAA’s $16.7 billion buy of Sigma-Aldrich made up 96% of the Q3 M&A activity.

Derived from Strategic Transactions, Informa’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Medical Device Deals Update column is a survey of recent medtech M&A, alliance, and financing activity. This month’s column covers deals announced September-October 2014.

In a transaction worth $650 million in pre-commercial payments, Daiichi Sankyo got exclusive US rights to Charleston Labs’ hydrocodone combos for pain; Roche acquired two of its partners, InterMune and Santaris. Both biopharma and device financing were down in August compared with July.

Multiple companies are receiving funding or are in discussions with federal agencies about development of rapid assays for Ebola that can be used by patients and health care workers in the field, a top official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told "The Gray Sheet."