Device firms closed the final quarter of 2012 with $1.1 billion in financing, led by Volcano’s debt offering. Takeovers of Gambro and PSS Medical topped the device M&A list. At $196 million, Q4 diagnostic financing was the lowest quarter of the year, but IPOs returned with three public debuts. Amgen’s $415 million acquisition of deCODE was the largest diagnostic M&A.

Medical device company financing brought in $977 million, a decrease over Q1’s $1.1 billion. Device acquisition activity was up to $4.6 billion, yet only one deal surpassed the billion-dollar mark. With late-stage financing again leading, diagnostics funding together brought in $336 million, an 11% increase over Q1. For the first time since Q1 2011, the diagnostics M&A dollar total moved up instead of down, with $7 billion in acquisitions and five of the seven transactions topping $100 million.

A roundup of recent medtech mergers & acquisitions, strategic alliances, and financings.

The Dealmaking column is a survey of recent transactions, including strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions, and financings, in the life sciences industries. Deals are listed by the following industry sectors: in vitro diagnostics, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and research/analytical instrumentation and reagents. All transactions are excerpted from Elsevier's Strategic Transactions database, providing comprehensive transaction coverage from 1991 to the present.