In the meantime, smaller device manufacturers are struggling to compete with the larger makers. GE acquired Marquette's heart monitor business, expanding its interest in the cardiac equipment market. Guidant, a maker of defibrillators, bought Sulzer Medica's pacemaker division. GE, which was already the world's largest maker of magnetic resonance equipment, will now gain even more financial influence. Guidant is now looking to become one of the biggest pacemaker sellers in the business.
Hospitals prefer to deal with a small number of suppliers.
According to a September article from The New York Times, such mergers may hurt smaller medical device companies because larger companies often take accounts from smaller ones.