MPO’s Most-Read Stories This Week—Jan. 8

Familiar storylines resonated with MPO website viewers during the first week of 2022, with acquisitions and business partnerships garnering the lion’s share of digital views.

Stryker Corp. was a newsmaker heavyweight, as it announced a strategic collaboration with Microbot Medical on Jan. 3 and then acquired Vocera Communications just three days later. The Microbot partnership will pair Stryker’s neurovascular instruments with Microbot’s LIBERTY Robotic System to create dedicated robotic procedural kits for use in certain neurovascular procedures. Microbot Medical Chairman, CEO, and President Harel Gadot said the union will allow his company to expand its footprint in the neurovascular market.

Growth also was the incentive behind Stryker’s $3.09 billion bid for Vocera Communications, a clinical communication and workflow technologies provider. Stryker executives said Vocera’s portfolio of solutions to connect caregivers and “disparate data-generating medical devices” can help improve patient safety/outcomes, and provider workflows. Vocera’s software and hardware for remote communication complements Stryker’s Advanced Digital Healthcare tools, and provide a way to reduce and prevent adverse events. “This acquisition underscores our commitment and focus on our customer,” Stryker CEO and Chairman Kevin Lobo said. “Vocera will help Stryker significantly accelerate our digital aspirations to improve the lives of caregivers and patients.”

Other top-ranking news items this past week included the completion of Titan Medical’s final milestone under its licensing and development agreement with Medtronic plc, and the latter company’s woes with the Puritan Bennet 980 Series ventilator.


1. Top Healthcare Trends to Look Out for in 2022


2. Stryker, Microbot Medical Begin Strategic Neurovascular Collaboration


3. Titan Medical Completes Last Milestone Under Medtronic Development Agreement


4. Medtronic Recalls Puritan Bennett 980 Series Ventilator


5. Stryker to Buy Vocera Communications for $3B