Resmed spends $1bn inside a month

Keeping well within its respiratory specialism, Resmed has bought Propeller Health, maker of sensors that attach to inhalers and track medication use by patients with asthma and early-stage COPD. The sensors communicate with an app on the patient’s phone, and thus fit in with Resmed’s other digital health initiatives, including cloud-connected ventilators and oxygen concentrators for patients with more advanced COPD. The deal is worth $225m in cash, a snip compared with the purchase – less than a month ago – of electronic health record software developer Matrixcare for $750m. Resmed seems to have a very clear picture of where its M&A strategy is targeted: its last five deals have all been either digital health and software companies or respiratory device developers. Further deals from the California medtech cannot be ruled out, particularly as investors seem to be happy; the company's market cap has doubled over the last two years, to $16bn.