Why did Medtronic pay $650 million for SPR Therapeutics — and what does it teach owners about building a business worth buying?
On May 20, 2026, Medtronic agreed to buy Cleveland-based SPR Therapeutics for about $650 million — not for its size, but for a proven, FDA-cleared, non-opioid pain product it would have taken years to build. The deal is a clean lesson in buy-versus-build strategy and in what actually makes a focused small company worth a premium to an acquirer.