Deals for medical device companies in 2017 are keeping pace with the previous year’s deal volume, more or less. With two weeks left in the year, 107 transactions in the Medical Device category have been announced and about $48.0 billion in spending.

Deal volume is 5% lower than the 113 transactions announced for all of 2016 in this sector. The dollar volume is 22% lower than last year’s $61.8 billion.

The latest deals announced in December include Stryker Corp.‘s (NYSE: SYK) $709.6 million acquisition of Entellus Medical (NASDAQ: ENTL), a global medical technology company focused on delivering superior patient and physician experiences through products designed for the minimally invasive treatment of various ear, nose, and throat (ENT) disease states.

Entellus has a broad portfolio of ENT products, including XprESS Multi-Sinus Dilation System and the LATERA Absorbable Nasal Implant, which are highly complementary to the existing ENT portfolio of Stryker’s instruments business.

The transaction is expected to be dilutive to Stryker’s 2018 adjusted net earnings per diluted share by approximately $0.04 and accretive thereafter. The price represents a 50% premium to the closing price on December 6, 2017.

This is Stryker’s third announced acquisition in 2017, following its $710 million deal for NOVADAQ Texhnologies Inc.  (NASDAQ: NVDQ) in June and the $191 million deal for VEXIM (ALVXM.PA), a French medical device company that makes and markets minimally invasive solutions for treating traumatice spinal pathologies.

The most recent medical device transaction came on December 12, as privately held Aesculap, Inc. paid $17.3 million for Dextura Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: DXTR).

The target designs and manufactures proprietary stapling devices for minimally invasive surgical procedures, which in the United States are used in more than 1 million surgical procedures annually. It also markets the C-Port Distal Anastomosis Systems and PAS-Port Proximal Anasomisis System, the only automated anastomosis devices for coronary artery bypass graft surgery on the market. These products have demonstrated long-term, reliable clinical performance for more than a decade.

With two weeks to go, there’s still time for this sector to match last year’s deal volume, at least. But even if it misses, we expect this sector will continue its strong and steady pace for mergers and acquisitions in 2018.