This week, Abbott announced its plans to acquire Bigfoot Biomedical — a startup selling a “smart” insulin pen cap, which collects data from a user’s CGM to help them calculate the right dose. Most analysts were unsurprised to hear of the acquisition given that the two companies have been collaborating for more than six years, but they said the deal reinforces the steady pace of digital innovation in the diabetes care space.

California passed a law last year aimed at controlling rising healthcare costs that gave the state the ability to scrutinize healthcare deals of a certain size involving California companies. What impact can it have?

Medtech funding reached its low point in the first quarter but will slowly pick back up over the rest of 2023, according to a new Pitchbook report. It noted that this year’s medtech funding total will not come close to the $19.7 billion the sector raised in 2021, and it might even come in below last year’s funding total of $13.5 billion.

M&A activity in the healthcare sector continued to decline in the second quarter of 2023, with the number of deals reaching its lowest point in three years. However, a new report predicted that M&A activity could increase in the second half of this year due to healthcare companies’ continually shrinking valuations and their divestitures of non-core assets.

Healthcare dealmakers must prepare for a new law and a recently-introduced bill in the California Senate, both of which aim to increase oversight in the healthcare M&A space. This is a legislative trend other states are beginning to participate in too — such as New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Global funding for digital health companies finally stabilized in Q1 of this year. The sector raised $3.4 billion — this marks the first time the digital health world didn’t experience a quarter-over-quarter funding decline since Q4 of 2021. By holding steady, digital health startups defied the dwindling fundraising totals seen across the broader venture capital landscape, where funding dropped by 13% quarter-over-quarter.

Kaiser Permanente announced that it expects to acquire Pennsylvania-based Geisinger Health. Kaiser’s move is part of a larger plan — Geisinger will be the first health system to join Risant Health, a new company Kaiser launched to operate nonprofit health systems under value-based care models. Kaiser said it expects to invest $5 billion in Risant and fold five or six health systems into the company over the next five years.

Hospital M&A activity remained strong during the first quarter of 2023, according to a new report from Kaufman Hall. Hospitals and health systems announced 15 M&A transactions in the first quarter of 2023, which almost matches the 17 transactions announced in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The 41st annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference concluded last week. After the pandemic prompted it to go virtual, it was back in person, smaller in size and more effective. Here are my takeaways.

AstraZeneca has committed $1.3 billion to acquire CinCor Pharma, a clinical-stage biotech whose lead drug candidate has the potential to treat hypertension in a new way. In other M&A news, Ipsen and Chiesi Farmaceutici each announced acquisitions of rare disease biotechs. All three deals come with contingent value rights.

Some industry experts seem skeptical of the rumored deal between Amwell and Talkspace, while others disagree. The rumored purchasing price is $200 million at about $1.50 per share.

Rising deal premiums and shrinking profit margins are threatening the sustainability of the traditional approach to mergers and acqusitions, according to a report by Accenture. The firm expects growth-minded companies will turn to other pathways.

Pfizer is turning to M&A to get its next blockbuster, buying Biohaven six months after the two companies began a commercialization pact centered on the oral migraine drug Nurtec. The acquisition will lead to the spinout of Biohaven’s other assets into a new, publicly traded company capitalized with $275 million.

After a busy year for digital health, four experts shared their predictions on which sectors will see the most M&A, and which companies are likely to get together in the future. 

The companies struck an all-cash deal on Monday for $95-per share. Oracle plans to add a voice interface to Cerner’s electronic health record system. 

At CB Insights’ Future of Health Conference, Ginger CEO Russell Glass talked about how the company merged with Headspace to form a $3 billion mental health company and how to scale up a mental health business. 

Paris-based Cardiologs has a software platform to screen for arrhythmias from ECG data. It would add to Philips’ portfolio of cardiac software for hospitals and remote monitoring.

The companies have certified substantial compliance with a request for additional information from the Department of Justice, which opened an investigation of the merger in March. They struck an agreement with the agency not to merge until February of 2022, unless it drops its investigation before then. 

Agile, nimble entrepreneurs with a vision can often chart a course through the big guys to serve emerging needs or those that rarely get attention

The merger of the two patient engagement companies will create an organization with more than 2,000 employees. The deal would expand Virgin Pulse’s channels for communicating with patients and help it expand into some new markets. 

Walgreens is considering buying Evolent Health, which makes software to help providers manage their value-based care programs, according to a recent report by Bloomberg. Evolent’s stock rose more than 18% on the news of the potential deal.

Medical technology companies saw 288 deals between June 2020 and June 2021, the highest amount ever since Ernst & Young began tracking it in 2007. VC funding in medtech also reached a high point of $9.1 billion. 

After closing a series C round led by 8VC, Flywheel used a portion of the funds to acquire St. Louis-based Radiologics. Both have platforms to help researchers process medical imaging data. 

Investors had long expected Intersect ENT to be an acquisition target before Medtronic announced its plans to buy the company last week. Better reimbursement for Intersect ENT’s products and elective procedures returning over the summer months might have helped the deal cross the finish line. 

Relatient, a company that makes patient engagement software, recently raised more than $100 million in growth equity capital. It plans to put a portion of the funds to acquire startup Radix Health.

Though the number of merger and acquisition deals in the first quarter of 2021 fell below historical averages, the size of the deals was far bigger than the same period last year, a new report from Kaufman Hall shows. The total transacted revenue was $8.8 billion, the second-highest Q1 figure in the last five years.

Hillrom axed plans to acquire cardiac monitoring company Bardy Diagnostics over reimbursement changes by a Medicare contractor. Bardy filed suit against Hillrom on Sunday.

Benefits navigation startup Accolade acquired second opinion startup 2nd.MD for $460 million. With little overlap between the two companies, the deal is expected to increase Accolade’s total addressable market by $22 billion.

Healthcare technology companies raised a record of $15.3 billion in 2020, according to a report from Silicon Valley Bank. For the first time, digital health companies surpassed biopharma for the number of deals.  

The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter. MyoKardia’s lead drug candidate is mavacamten, which it is developing for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and plans to submit to the FDA in the first quarter of next year.