Big medtech convalesces after Covid-19

What a difference a year makes. The second quarter of 2020 took a tremendous toll on many device makers, principally those whose technologies are used in elective procedures, as non-urgent care was deprioritised to allow hospitals to focus on treating Covid-19 patients.

Companies whose sales were hit hardest are now riding high, with orthopaedics and cardiovascular players leading the revenue renaissance among the 10 biggest groups. But a comparison with the second quarter of 2019, as a means of benchmarking companies’ 2021 performance against a more normal year, suggests that the real winners from the pandemic era are the diagnostics companies.