Earlier this year we reported on the growing number of digital health industry mergers and acquisitions. As we mentioned at the time, the torrent of technology development; interest in digital health by tech giants such as Amazon, Google, and Apple; and increased societal awareness and enthusiasm for technology such as wearables, telemedicine, and electronic health records created a “perfect storm” of financial activity.
Health tech merger and acquisitions to date in 2018 have continued and even surpassed last year’s surge. Mobile Health News reported 17 major digital health company deals in 2018’s quarter alone. One type of deal includes large corporations jumping into digital tech by buying existing entities. An example of a major organization entering the field is Best Buy acquiring connected safety and aging-in-place company GreatCall for $800 million. In a reverse play, Johnson & Johnson sold its Calibra OneTouch Via wearable insulin pump license to CeQur.
Other acquisitions involve successful health tech niche companies buying out their competition to lock in their place. Competitive buyouts include migraine tracker app company SensorRX buying competitor Welltodo to integrate its features into SensorRX’s MigrnX and Internet Brand’s WebMD (a 2017 acquisition), buying Mdx Medical’s Vitals Consumer Services Division to augment WebMD’s information resource site with a patient peer-engagement platform.
In the current positive economic climate, with rising interest in digital tech and continued concern for health care costs, there’s no reason to expect health and medical-related merger and acquisition activity to slow down.
