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Johnson & Johnson has reported an overall sales increase of 6.8%, though the company has chosen to spin off its orthopaedics business in a bid to prioritise its portfolio. Credit: Skorzewiak/Shutterstock.com

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has made the latest slimming down move across its company in recent years, saying it plans to separate its orthopaedics business into a new stand-alone company. While few details were shared on the spinoff, J&J said the new business will be named DePuy Synthes.

The decision comes despite modest growth for its business, which already includes DePuy Synthes as one of its components. The unit, which includes artificial hip and knee devices, grew 2.4% this quarter. J&J acquired Switzerland-based Synthes for $21bn in 2012, combining it with its own DePuy business.

According to J&J’s Chair and CEO, Joaquin Duato, this will primarily occur in a bid to “prioritise” its portfolio, while moving its core business strategies into “high-growth markets”. The split will leave J&J focused on its pharmaceutical and remaining MedTech segments.

The company expects that the separation of its orthopaedics business will enhance topline growth and margins, while facilitating the key focus on cardiovascular surgery, vision and robotics. 

A new report by MedTech Europe indicates that Europe’s medical technology sector is continuing to innovate and grow in economic strength.

The trade body’s report revealed that Europe’s overall medical technology market was worth around €170bn ($198.6bn) in 2024, with the sector employing over 930,000 staff. Germany represents the biggest EU market with a 25% market share, followed by France, the UK, Italy, and Spain in positions 2-4, respectively.

According to MedTech Europe, digital health is rapidly scaling in Europe as a result of the convergence between breakthrough technologies, patient empowerment, and systemic efficiencies. The assertion reflects that this charge is being spearheaded by Germany and France due to the nation’s expanded access to digital health through established reimbursement frameworks.

Germany’s DiGA (Digital Health Applications) pathway to date includes reimbursement for 59 DiGA solutions, with the country having now reached one million DiGA prescriptions issued since the pathway’s launch in 2020. 

GE HealthCare has launched a new cloud-based platform aimed at improving the delivery of clinical insights to streamline maternal and foetal care.

The medtech giant’s CareIntellect for Perinatal is available via a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model and unites disparate clinical sources in a single location, thereby simplifying clinicians’ ability to monitor status, annotate clinical events, search historical data, and remotely monitor patients.

GE HealthCare notes that the app enables clinicians to quickly review patient status without the typically time-consuming, manual review processes typically involved in synthesising multiple data streams to understand patient status.

The new platform integrates maternal and foetal vital statistics including uterine activity, blood pressure, foetal heart rate, and maternal SpO2. According to GE HealthCare, with a unified, chronological view of such metrics, the app will reduce administrative burden and help care teams to focus more fully on patient care. 

Abbott has reaffirmed its FY25 guidance despite Q3 revenues falling short of analyst expectations, with strong performance across its medtech portfolio offset by sluggish performance in its diagnostics business.

The life sciences giant has now narrowed its anticipated FY25 growth to $5.12 to $5.18 per share, versus the previous range of $5.10 to $5.20.

Wall Street analysts had expected Abbott to achieve Q3 revenues of $11.4bn. Narrowly missing expectations at $11.37bn prompted the company’s stock price to fall by 3.23% to a $129.45 close on 15 October.

Abbott’s stocks trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The Chicago-headquartered company’s financials revealed a 6.6% decline in its Q3 diagnostics revenues to around $2.2bn globally, with modest growth in core laboratory, molecular, and point of care, at 3.8%, 2.6%, and 8.2%, respectively. 

The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) has issued a bulletin highlighting the common challenges and mitigation strategies in remotely managing connected medical devices, recommending the industry adopt a proactive stance. 

Otherwise known as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, connected devices in healthcare include ultrasound machines, infusion pumps, and remote patient monitoring (RPM) tools such as wearable patches for monitoring patient vitals. 

AdvaMed’s bulletin highlights frequent remote device operation challenges experienced in the sector. This includes cloud deployments that may introduce latency and integration issues due to shared resources and datacentre distance, security updates that can result in misaligned peripherals, and software compatibility issues such as outdated drivers, mismatched operating systems, and firmware discrepancies. 

Infusion pumps are one of the most common IoT devices deployed in hospitals, and AdvaMed’s guidance broadly resonates with recent challenges related to software issues for devices in this segment.