Medtech in a Minute: Medtronic's Big Spinout News, and More

Medtronic's Big Spin

Medtronic plans to spin its patient monitoring and respiratory interventions businesses into a new company. Combined, these businesses generated about $2.2 billion in the company's last fiscal year, representing about 7% of total Medtronic revenue. Both businesses are currently part of Medtronic's medical surgical portfolio. The separation is expected to be completed in the next 12 months to 18 months, which means they will continue to be part of Medtronic through at least the current fiscal year, and the announcement does not impact the company's guidance for fiscal year 2023.

Baxter CEO All But Confirms Divestiture Rumors

Baxter CEO Joe Almeida confirmed last week that the company is in the midst of evaluating its business portfolio, and he expects to make an announcement related to that process in January. There have been rumors circulating for about a month now that the Deerfield, IL-based company is considering shedding parts of its dialysis businesses. While declining to comment on the rumors directly, Almeida said the company wants to optimize the portfolio with a focus on connected care, and areas that will drive higher gross margin, and areas of higher top-line growth. That means software, and technologies designed to "connect the dots" for clinicians and institutions. He said the team is about three-quarters of the way through that process, which has been "very intense."

J&J Sees Progress on Blue-Light Contacts

Johnson & Johnson presented positive data on wearing its blue-violet light filtering contact lenses at the 2022 American Academy of Optometry annual meeting. Acuvue Oasys Max 1-Day contact lenses were designed for those living digitally intense lifestyles. These lenses include TearStable Technology to maximize tear-film stability and lock in moisture, and OptiBlue light filter, which J&J says has the highest-level blue-violet filter in the industry at 60%, to reduce light scatter for visual clarity in day and night.

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A Phoenix Rises

Intuitive Surgical's stock rose more than 10% last week following news of its earnings beat. The company rebounded in earnings after facing macroeconomic and competitive headwinds earlier in the year. CEO Gary Guthart said procedure volumes were up 20%. He specifically highlighted general surgery, Intuitive's largest procedure category, which is growing at the fastest rate of any category. That growth is fueled by bariatric surgery, cholecystectomy, hernia repair, and other foregut procedures in the United States, he said.

Abbott Debunks COVID Testing Assumptions

Abbott raked in $1.7 billion in global COVID testing sales in the third quarter, and CEO Robert Ford told analysts that their earlier assumptions regarding COVID testing going away at some point were incorrect. The company now expects full year 2022 sales from COVID-19 tests to land at $7.8 billion. "Right now, it's looking like COVID testing sales are stickier than most have assumed," Ford said.

Medtronic's Mega News Week

Medtronic had a busy week, first revealing its plans to launch a collaborative innovation platform in the stroke space, then announcing three significant regulatory approvals for its Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system. The company has received CE mark clearance to market Hugo for general surgery in Europe; a Health Canada license for general laparoscopic surgery; and Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare approval for urologic surgical and gynecologic laparoscopic indications in Japan.