IPOs in the United States may be lagging overall, but in med-tech we have seen a flurry of IPO activity, sparking some long overdue optimism regarding the health of the industry. Most recently, Natera, a California-based company, began trading (NASDAQ: NTRA) this past Thursday at $22.10 after pricing 10 million shares of its common stock at $18, the high end of the expected $17 to $18 range. Natera is a genetic testing company that develops non-invasive methods for analyzing DNA. ConforMIS, a Massachusetts-based company, also received a warm welcome from investors when it began trading last Wednesday (NASDAQ: CFMS) at...

A handful of medical device companies have stepped up lately to address obesity, which wasn't even widely-recognized as a disease until a few years ago. Ethicon (Cincinnati) reported a $3.2 million investment in clinical research to better understand how earlier surgical intervention may improve obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

ConforMIS (Bedford, Mass.) began trading Wednesday (NASDAQ: CFMS) at $18 on a volume of 5,711,675 shares, after pricing its IPO of 9 million shares of common stock at $15 a share, the middle of the expected $14 to $16 range, fetching roughly $135 million. Shares jumped to a high of $20.42 (a 36% jump over the IPO price) and closed Wednesday at $19.25.