In the last decades of the 20th century, the U.S. was known for owning innovation in medical development globally. Even with an increasing trade disparity in industries like automotive and consumer electronics, medical was still going strong.
Around the new millennium, mergers, increased global competition, increased regulatory oversight, and a few recessions drove American medical companies into maintenance mode — optimize, cut costs, maintain. It became increasingly difficult to allocate time and resources to innovation when just keeping up with the competition and managing offshoring pressures was job one.
