At the very least, 2015 could be described as interesting for the medical device industry, with a number of companies successful initial public offerings and non-traditional players like Google Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Suwon, South Korea) stepping up in the life sciences game. But of all the impactful stories reported this year, the one that zipped to the top of Medical Device Daily's annual list was the recently reported medical device tax suspension (Medical Device Daily, Dec. 21, 2015).

HONG KONG — Medical devices are among 201 technology products that account for an estimated $1.3 trillion in annual trade and will not be subject to customs duties beginning next year as the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) among members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) marks a landmark expansion.