Covidien was an Irish-headquartered global health care products company and manufacturer of medical devices and supplies. Covidien became an independent publicly traded company after being spun-off from Tyco International in 2007. It was purchased by Medtronic in a transaction that closed in 2015. The now merged company is headquartered in Ireland, where Covidien was based.
History
Though formed as Covidien in 2007, Covidien traces its roots to 1903 when Henry P. Kendall took over a small textile mill in Walpole, Massachusetts, United States, that produced cotton batts, carpet linings and absorbent cotton. The company later developed health and hygienic products. A number of other medical device companies eventually came together with the Kendall Company to form the foundation for Covidien. By 1994, Kendall had become one of the world's largest manufacturers of disposable medical supplies, wound care dressings, bandaging, elastic support and other vascular compression products. It became the basis of the Tyco Healthcare business when it was acquired by the company that year, along with Classic Medical, Uni-Patch and Promeon. In 1998, Tyco Healthcare acquired Sherwood, Davis & Geck, a manufacturer and distributor of disposable medical products, and United States Surgical Corporation, which provided suture and auto suture devices, along with energy-based devices, through its Valleylab brand. And, in 2000, Tyco Healthcare added respiratory and monitoring products provider Nellcor Puritan Bennett through the acquisition of Mallinckrodt Inc. In 2007, Covidien was formed when Tyco International spun off its health care business. Since that time, Covidien has made a number of acquisitions including VNUS Medical Technologies, Aspect Medical Systems, Somanetics, ev3, BÂRRX, Newport Medical Instruments, superDimension, Oridion Systems and Given Imaging. Offshoring and focus on Low Cost Countries resulted in several plant closures in the USA particularly a few in upper New York state and Norwood, Massachusetts. In 2011, José E. Almeida became the Chairman, CEO, and President. In 2012, Covidien acquired Newport Medical Instruments, a small ventilator manufacturer supplier. Newport Medical Instruments had been contracted in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to design a cheap, portable ventilator. At the time, Newport Medical Instruments had 3 working prototypes produced, and was on schedule to file for market approval late 2013. Covidien then effectively halted the project, subsequently exiting the contract, as it was not profitable enough. Government officials and other medical equipment suppliers suspect the Newport acquisition was largely done to prevent a cheaper product from undermining Covidien's existing ventilator business. This contributed to the shortage of ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of 2014, Covidien was operating in more than 150 countries globally, with 39,000+ employees in over 70 countries. In January 2014, Covidien acquires WEM Electronic Equipment, based in Ribeirão Preto. In June 2014, Covidien agreed to be acquired by Medtronic for $42.9 billion.
