Owens & Minor Inc. (O&M) sent Apria Inc. shares out of the ballpark with the announcement of its acquisition of the at-home health care company for $1.45 billion in cash early this morning. Apria’s stock (NASDAQ:APR) closed Friday at $29.72, opened today at $37.16 and rose incrementally throughout the day to close at $37.48. O&M’s stock (NYSE:OMI) ended the week at $45.08; it ebbed sharply to $40.19 on the news before recovering to $45.35 at the end of the trading day.

Stryker Corp. reported that it signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire Vocera Communications Inc. for $2.97 billion in an all-cash transaction expected to close in the first quarter of this year. Vocera provides digital care and communication services, which Stryker said will designed to help hospitals connect caregivers and various data-generating medical devices such as wearables, paired beds, ambulation equipment, badges and alarms.

Movendo Technology srl and Maragal Medical PC have collaborated to provide free community screening for the risk of falls for Massachusetts Medicare patients using Movendo’s Hunova robotic technology. Hunova performs a progressive assessment on seated and standing patients to evaluate their flexibility, strength and balance. The system also provides personalized rehabilitative therapy recommendations.

Quidel Corp. reported a definitive agreement to acquire Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Holdings plc in a nearly $6 billion deal expected to close in the first half of 2022. The $24.68 per share offered by Quidel represents a nearly 25% premium over Ortho’s closing price as of Dec. 22. Quidel will also assume $2 billion in debt. In addition, Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (Labcorp) said it would acquire Baltimore-based Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc., which offers a portfolio of genomics-based liquid biopsy and tissue-based diagnostic products, for $450 million in cash at closing plus up to $125 million contingent on achieving specific performance milestones. That deal is also expected to close in the first half of 2022, pending approval by both companies’ shareholders.

Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD) completed its acquisition of Scanwell Health Inc., its partner in development of the smartphone-enabled BD Veritor At-Home COVID-19 Test, just in time for increased demand driven by the Omicron surge in the U.S. and plans to make the tests available for free by the federal government as well as several states and large municipalities. Currently, most of the tests distributed by governments are made by Abbott Laboratories, which received emergency use authorization (EUA) for its at-home test in March 2021.

Although 2021 med-tech deal volume is 13% higher than last year, the deals represent less than half the value recorded in 2020. The industry has completed 1,576 deals, including licensings, collaborations and joint ventures, through mid-December of 2021. They are valued at $2.13 billion. A total of 573 M&As, on the other hand, have reached $144.75 billion, a 282% rise over 2020.

Royal Philips NV has signed an agreement to acquire Vesper Medical Inc., a U.S.-based developer of minimally invasive peripheral vascular devices. The deal expands Philips’s portfolio of technologies for the treatment of deep venous disease. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2022. Financial details were not disclosed.

Avanos Medical Inc. is acquiring Orthogen Rx Inc. for $160 million in a bid to strengthen its chronic pain portfolio. China led the contribution to India’s med-tech imports with  ₹91.12 billion (US$1.2 billion) worth of goods in the 2021 fiscal year (April 2020 to March 2021), according to an analysis of data from India’s Department of Commerce by the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED). 

TORONTO – Cloud Dx Inc. has entered into an exclusive corporate agreement with Medtronic Canada ULC to provide the subsidiary of Medtronic plc virtual and remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology and services across Canada. Medtronic Canada will begin by integrating Cloud Dx’s Connected Health platform along the perioperative and complex chronic disease pathways that make up the country’s health care network.