Medtronic

Insulin pumps and other hospital devices are the world Medtronic lives in, so the company matters most to clinicians, patients with chronic conditions and the staff who manage complex equipment. By our assessment, its real strength is the breadth of its medical technology: pacing, pumps, spinal care and monitoring gear under one roof. The downside is that this is regulated hardware, not a fast-moving consumer brand, so buying, training and upkeep all take time and attention. In practice Medtronic feels like a company of procedures, manuals and careful follow-through, which is exactly what medical devices should demand. It sits among the biggest names in medtech, alongside Abbott, Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson’s device business, and its reputation is built more on scale than on flair. Medtronic is for people and hospitals that need dependable specialist equipment and are willing to live with the paperwork that comes with it.