Strategics pursuing high growth M&A plays are often ready to pay a premium price for a target. But with medtech valuations at historic highs, they cannot afford to do that every time. One solution is to take a strategic stake and build early, according to an AdvaMed panel hosted by EY’s John Babitt.

Frans van Houten has promised a summer update on Royal Philips’ medium-term outlook after the company was hit from all sides in late 2021. He expects the resulting headwinds to persist into early 2022.

The consumer device company recently bought 8Fit, a German fitness app developer, and Impeto Medical, the developer of the Sudoscan technology for detecting and tracking small fiber neuropathy.

The operating environment for medical technology companies becomes more complex, competitive and costly every year. There is no expectation that 2022 will buck that trend, even as the medtech sector prepares for a third year of working under conditions shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.