In case you didn't know by now, this has been a good year for M&A in the medical device industry, to put it plainly. The number of deals rose 39% to 57 announced transactions, according to an article from Mass Device. Moreover, deal value more than sextupled to $86 billion, up from $14 billion in 2013. The 5 biggest deals of the year so far (including those that have yet to close) are Medtronic's ($MDT) $43 billion takeover of Covidien ($COV), Zimmer's ($ZMH) $13.5 billion purchase of Biomet, Becton Dickinson's ($BDX) $12.2 billion acquisition of CareFusion, Wright Medical's ($WMGI) $3.3 billion bid for Tornier, and lastly, Danaher's ($DHR) $2.1 billion buyout of Nobel Biocare. The mega Medtronic/Covidien deal has hogged most of the attention, but it should not overshadow the plethora of other consolidations taking place in the industry led by, once again, Medtronic with 6 deals and Covidien with 5 deals. Article