MASSDEVICE ON CALL — More medical device giants offered their 2¢ on high-dollar mega-mergers, joining other companies in saying that they aren’t planning any billion-dollar buys just yet.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) CEO Alex Gorsky said in an interview with Beaker’s Blog that he wasn’t surprised to see device makers engaging in multi-billion dollar mergers, and that J&J had taken steps years before to beat the trend.

"We definitely saw consolidation in the future simply because of the number of different participants you had in the market," Gorsky told Beaker’s. J&J began talks in 2011 to acquire Synthes, a deal that closed for $19.7 billion that June.

Surgical devices maker Teleflex (NYSE:TFX) addressed the trend during its most recent earning call with analysts, saying that the company isn’t looking to make any big moves without some significant strategic value.

"Our acquisitions strategy is really driven around products that particularly strengthen our franchise rather than simply trying to get bigger for the sake of being bigger," chairman, president & CEO Benson Smith said. "We don’t see our thoughts about acquisition changing much over what we’ve done over the last couple of years."

Several of the biggest medical device companies have been weighing in on the giant deals that have captured the market’s attention: Medtronic’s $43 billion merger with Covidien (NYSE:COV) and the pending $13.4 billion deal to unite Zimmer (NYSE:ZMH) and Biomet. 

Leadership at Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), C.R. Bard (NYSE:BCR) and Smith & Nephew (FTSE:SN, NYSE:SNN) all said in recently analyst calls that they aren’t looking to forge mega-mergers of their own, but are instead eying smaller tuck-in buys to complement their existing structures.

 New CMS codes are on the way
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ new reimbursement codes, dubbed ICD-10, will take effect at the start of October.
Read more

 Doc rails against MRI prohibitions for device patients
Cardiologist Dr. Melissa Walton-Shirley says warnings that keep patients from getting much-needed MRIs over concerns about an implantable device are "cardiology’s biggest lie."
Read more

 From the gym to the clinic
Health and fitness companies are getting FDA clearances to market their wearable activity trackers for use in clinical trials.
 
Read more

 CMS homes in on wheelchair fraud
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services added 12 additional states to its growing program for preventing fraud in wheelchair supply and billing.  
Read more