Medtronic top medtech R&D spender in 2022; Abbott to knock Johnson & Johnson off second place spot.

Evaluate consensus forecasts find that Medtronic will continue to occupy the top spot for R&D expenditure, spending approximately $2.7bn on R&D in 2022. Abbott is expected to take the number two spot following its acquisition of St. Jude.

Of the top 20, bioMérieux and Edwards Lifesciences are forecast to invest the most into R&D as a percentage of medtech sales, both at 15.2%.

Worldwide Medtech R&D Spend: Top 10 Companies (2022)

Worldwide Medtech R&D Spend: Top 15 Companies & Total Market (2016 & 2022)

Note: Analysis is based on the top 300 medtech companies. R&D spend in 2016 based on company reported data.

Forecast medtech R&D spend based on a consensus of leading equity analysts’ estimates for company level R&D spend, extrapolated to medtech R&D when a company has non-medtech R&D activity. Medtech R&D is not disclosed by a number of companies and this analysis is limited to those companies with sufficient disclosure.

R&D expenditure of St. Jude Medical is included in Abbott’s 2022 forecast but not in the 2016 reported R&D spend. Abbott completed the acquisition of St. Jude on 4 January 2017. St. Jude Medical was estimated to have spent $751m on R&D in 2016.

Abbott’s 2022 R&D expenditure forecast does not include Alere as the acquisition has not yet closed. Alere forecast to spend $114m on R&D in 2022.

Philips’s 2022 R&D expenditure forecast does not include Spectranetics. Philips completed the acquisition of Spectranetics on 9 August 2017. Spectranetics forecast to spend $106m on R&D in 2022. Becton Dickinson’s 2022 R&D expenditure forecast does not include C. R. Bard as acquisition has not yet closed. C. R. Bard forecast to spend $362m on R&D in 2022.