A Medical Device is an instrument, apparatus, or implement intended for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease. A medical device’s purpose is to affect the structure or function of the body.

Included in this category are companies that manufacture medical instruments and devices including medical diagnostics equipment (X-ray, CT scan, MRI).

Historically, a medical device did not achieve any of its primary intended purposes through chemical action within or on the body. More recently, devices have been combined with drugs to provide enhanced therapeutic properties, blurring the line between Medical Devices and Therapeutics with such devices as drug delivery, surgical instruments, pacemakers and artificial organs.