
Our list of the largest orthopedic device companies has changed a lot since last year.
A change in methodology means there is a new company at the top of this year’s MassDevice and Medical Design & Outsourcing ranking of the world’s largest orthopedic device companies. But mergers and spinoffs also added to the list two orthopedic developers and manufacturers that weren’t ranked last year.
From endoscopic devices to brain surgery tech to emergency defibrillators, Stryker is so much more than an orthopedic device company. Our editors decided it was time to break out the company’s Orthopaedics and Spine business going forward. The move means that we now consider Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s DePuy Synthes business the world’s largest orthopedic device company, but just by a hair.
Stryker could be back on the top next year. DePuy Synthes’ revenue growth accelerated to 4.4% in 2023, but Stryker’s ortho and spine business grew at an even faster rate of 10.5%.
In fact, many of the companies on the largest orthopedic device companies list saw revenue growth pick up in 2023 as the industry returned to pre-pandemic growth levels.
Stryker has especially enjoyed success on the popularity of its Mako surgical robotic systems for knee and hip surgeries. Last year, the Mako systems passed the 1 million procedure mark globally. Expect Mako’s growth to speed up even more, with shoulder and spine applications planned for later in 2024.
Mako’s success means that many of Stryker’s competitors have also become more active in robotic and digital surgery.
Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Synthes recently secured FDA clearance for the use of its Velys surgical robot platform in unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. The FDA previously cleared Velys for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in early 2021.
Meanwhile, Zimmer Biomet recently agreed to distribute Think Surgical’s TMINI miniature robotic system for TKA, a move that provides a handheld robotic option on top of ZB’s flagship Rosa surgical robotics portfolio.
And Smith+Nephew now has its CorioGraph pre-operative planning and modeling services for its Cori system.
In addition to robotic surgery, consolidation left its mark on our largest orthopedic device companies list. NuVasive is now part of Globus Medical, and SeaSpine is part of Orthofix.
Meanwhile, Alphatec’s 37% revenue growth in 2023 launched it ahead of ZimVie’s spine tech business, which ZimVie sold in April for $375 million to H.I.G. Capital. (The former ZimVie spine business is now called Highridge Medical.)
Here are the world’s 10 largest orthopedic device companies, ranked by ortho business revenue pulled from their most recent annual reports:
LARGEST ORTHOPEDIC DEVICE COMPANIES | ANNUAL REVENUE (% CHANGE) | HEADQUARTERS OR SIGNIFICANT LOCATIONS | |
1 | Johnson & Johnson (DePuy Synthes) | $8.9B (+4.4%) | Locations: Raynham, Massachusetts.; West Chester, Pennsylvania; Warsaw, Indiana; Palm Beach Gardens, Florida |
2 | Stryker (Orthopaedics and Spine) | $8.7B (+10.5%) | HQ: Kalamazoo, Michigan |
3 | Zimmer Biomet | $7.4B (+6.5%) | HQ: Warsaw, Indiana |
4 | Medtronic (Cranial & Spinal Technologies) | $4.8B (+6.9%) | Locations: Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville, Colorado |
5 | Smith+Nephew (Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine) | $3.7B (+5.6%) | HQ: London |
6 | Enovis | $1.7B (+9.2%) | HQ: Wilmington, Delaware |
7 | Globus Medical (merged with NuVasive) | $1.6B * | HQ: Audubon, Pennsylvania |
8 | Orthofix (merged with SeaSpine) | $747M (+6.9%) | HQ: Lewisville, Texas |
9 | Conmed (Orthopedic Surgery) | $533M (+15.5%) | HQ: Largo, Florida |
10 | Alphatec | $482M (+37%) | HQ: Carlsbad, California |
* Revenue growth is unclear in Globus Medical’s annual report.
Watch out for more Medtech Big 100 data posting in the late summer on our sibling site Medical Design & Outsourcing.
Here are our 2023 rankings of the largest orthopedic device companies and our 2022 rankings.