Smith & Nephew Stock

Smith & Nephew plc develops, manufactures, markets, and sells medical devices and services. The company is a leading portfolio medical technology company.

The company’s customers are healthcare professionals. They can range from orthopaedic surgeons to wound care nurses, general practitioners and other clinicians, but increasingly also economic stakeholders, such as purchasing professionals in hospitals and healthcare insurers. The company serves its markets through three global franchises of Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine & ENT and Advanced Wound Management.

Orthopaedics

Orthopaedics includes an innovative range of Hip and Knee Implants used to replace diseased, damaged or worn joints, robotics-assisted and digital enabling technologies and services that empower surgeons, and Trauma & Extremities products used to stabilise severe fractures and correct hard tissue deformities.

In Knee Implants, Smith+Nephew’s specialised systems include leading products for total primary replacement and revision, as well as partial and patellofemoral joint resurfacing procedures, offering surgeons and patients the benefits of many proprietary technologies. In 2022, the company brought these technologies together in the JOURNEY II ROX Total Knee Solution, a new procedural product solution which aims to provide surgeons with the normal kinematics of JOURNEY II TKA, the cementless technology of CONCELOC Advanced Porous Titanium and the wear resistance of OXINIUM Technology.

The company’s OR3O Dual Mobility is the first system to use the latest OXINIUM DH advanced bearing technology. Dual mobility hip implants are used in primary as well as revision procedures. In addition, the company offers a full breadth of stems to address global philosophies, including the ANTHOLOGY Hip System. For revisions, the REDAPT Revision Hip System features CONCELOC Technology. Bridging primary and revision hips is the OR3O Dual Mobility with OXINIUM DH Liner Technology.

The company’s Other Reconstruction business includes the CORI Surgical System, one of the most advanced and efficient solutions on the market. The CORI system is a smalle, portable solution capable of performing robotic-assisted knee and computer-guided hip surgery on a single platform. In robotic-assisted knee procedures, CORI utilizes handheld precision milling which allows surgeons to execute TKA and UKA procedures with reproducible accuracy. Unlike other systems, the proprietary smart mapping feature creates a 3-D image of the patient’s anatomy in surgery, eliminating time, costs, and radiation exposure associated with preoperative CT scans.

During 2022, the company successfully expanded the capabilities of the CORI Surgical System. With the addition of a first-in-market indication in the U.S. for robotic-assisted revision knee using LEGION Revision Knee System, the CORI System is currently the only solution indicated for robotic-enabled knee procedures across the full continuum of care – partial, total, and revision knee arthroplasty. Furthermore, new indications for LEGION CONCELOC Cementless Total Knee System and RI.HIP NAVIGATION were added to CORI. In addition, RI.INSIGHTS, a data management solution, provides surgeon access to on-demand case information with patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for hip and knee procedures completed with the CORI Surgical System.

Strategy

The company is building on its strong foundation to build momentum and unlock opportunity. The company’s areas of focus include optimised supply planning and delivery, as well as improved asset deployment. The company’s initiatives are designed to drive growth across the Orthopaedic franchise. In Joint Reconstruction and Robotics, the company aims to accelerate growth by focusing on robotically enabled procedures in total knee and hip arthroplasty with the CORI Surgical System. Additionally, the company will continue to leverage the unique material properties in OXINIUM across the knee and hip platform.

Trauma & Extremities

Smith+Nephew’s portfolio includes differentiated technology across the major categories of Plates and Screws, Intramedullary Nails, Hip Fracture, Limb Restoration, Extremities, and Shoulder Replacement.

Leading products include the new EVOS Plating System, which includes a wide range of clinical indications from mini and small to large fragment and periprosthetic. Designed to offer surgeons an all-inclusive, expansive plating portfolio, EVOS provides the simplicity of logically organised instrumentation with advanced implant solutions that meets the demands and expectations of trauma surgeons.

The portfolio also includes the TRIGEN INTERTAN Hip Fracture System, which is backed by many years of strong clinical evidence. For Extremities, the launch of SMART TSF expanded the capabilities of the TAYLOR SPATIAL FRAME External Fixator.

In January 2021, the company completed the acquisition of an exciting Extremity Orthopaedics portfolio which has strengthened its business by adding a focused sales channel, complementary shoulder replacement and upper and lower extremities portfolio, and an exciting new product pipeline.

In July 2022, the company announced a pilot with a third party, Rods&Cones, to provide smart surgery glasses and digital remote assistance to customers.

The SMART TSF is used in the management of fractures and correction of long bone deformities, including for fracture reduction and limb correction, lengthening and/or straightening. It is a circular, metal frame with two rings that connect with six telescopic struts that can be independently lengthened or shortened relative to the rest of the frame. This allows for six different axes of movement, which gives the TAYLOR SPATIAL FRAME the ability to correct even the most difficult congenital deformities and trauma cases. The SMART TSF application generates a prescription of strut adjustments which the patient can perform at a rate and rhythm determined by their surgeon, potentially reducing the need for travel and face-to-face consultation.

Sports Medicine & ENT

The company’s Sports Medicine & Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) businesses offer advanced products and instruments used to repair or remove soft tissue. They operate in growing markets where unmet clinical needs provide opportunities for procedural and technological innovation. With a comprehensive procedural offering and differentiated technologies, the company helps healthcare professionals get their patients back to a Life Unlimited.

Smith+Nephew’s Sports Medicine & ENT franchise operates in growing markets where unmet clinical needs provide opportunities for procedural and technological innovation.

The company works with customers to ensure their arthroscopy suite is complete, robust and ready to perform. Whether they need a comprehensive visualisation system, or the company’s COBLATION Technology. The company’s INTELLIO Connected Tower Solution provides sports medicine surgeons with a complete suite of enabling technologies in the operating room (OR). It uses a centralised app to wirelessly connect and control the major components of an arthroscopy surgical tower from outside the sterile field, helping to streamline procedure support.

The company’s Sports Medicine Joint Repair business offers innovative procedural solutions for repairing soft tissue injuries. For shoulder repair, the company develops products for Rotator Cuff Repair (RCR) and instability repair to help address pain and restore function. The company’s All Tears, All Repairs Meniscal Repair Portfolio provides surgeons with unsurpassed options and possibilities for meniscal repair, including the FAST-FIX FLEX Meniscal Repair System, launched in 2021, which enables all-zone all-inside meniscal repair to treat tears previously not accessible.

The company’s portfolio also contains the NOVOSTITCH PRO Meniscal Repair System, which addresses complex meniscal tear patterns, including horizontal cleavage tears affecting approximately one-third of meniscal repair patients.27 The company also offers a comprehensive ligament portfolio of high-quality products and thoughtful techniques to address the full spectrum of ligament pathologies and concomitant injuries. Building upon the company’s trusted legacy of data-driven solutions, it continues to innovate in this space.

The company’s hip preservation portfolio contains a comprehensive offering of technologies and techniques, establishing Smith+Nephew as a leader and innovator in the hip repair segment. The launched CAP-FIX Capsular Management Family addresses all capsular management needs, from open to close. The company is committed to Redefining Healing Potential in gluteus medius repairs, with the use of the REGENETEN Implant.

In Arthroscopic Enabling Technologies, the company’s products facilitate arthroscopic surgical procedures. The INTELLIO Connected Tower Solution unites high-definition imaging solutions, energy-based and mechanical resection platforms, fluid management and access technologies.

The LENS 4K Surgical imaging system uses 4K UHD image quality and network connectivity in a 3-in-1 console for multi-specialty environments. The company’s WEREWOLF Controller enables surgeons to remove soft tissue precisely. The WEREWOLF FASTSEAL 6.0 Hemostasis Wand, launched in 2021, is used in orthopaedic procedures for hemostasis of soft and hard tissues bringing a technology widely used in sports medicine to orthopaedic customers.

In Ear, Nose and Throat, the company’s COBLATION Plasma Technology, which has been used to remove tonsils and adenoids for over 15 years,34,35 has an ability to remove tissue at low temperatures with minimal damage to surrounding tissue. The company’s Tula System provides an in-office solution for placement of tympanostomy tubes. In addition, the company markets a range of dissolvable and removable post-operative nasal dressings, as well as a comprehensive portfolio of epistaxis (nosebleed) solutions. Smith+Nephew’s Tula System gives ENT surgeons an option to place ear tubes in an awake child during an office visit without the need for general anaesthetic.

Strategy

The company has a strong Sports Medicine & ENT business and are well positioned for long-term leadership and delivering its vision of advancing standards of care. The company’s franchise is driven by the three strategic priorities – innovation, market development and commercial execution.

Smith+Nephew’s Sports Medicine & ENT business is founded on procedural innovation, with differentiated technologies that shape clinical outcomes across the globe. The company’s portfolio continues to demonstrate strong growth across key segments, and the company has an innovative pipeline in development.

Advanced Wound Management

The company’s Advanced Wound Management portfolio provides a comprehensive set of products and services to meet broad and complex clinical needs, delivering on the company’s mission to shape what is possible in wound care.

Smith+Nephew’s Advanced Wound Management franchise vision is to Shape What’s Possible in Wound Care. Through the company’s extensive portfolio, designed to meet broad and complex clinical needs, the company helps healthcare professionals solve the challenges of preventing and healing wounds.

In Advanced Wound Management, the company seeks to help healthcare systems through innovation in products and services, to deliver accelerated healing or preventing wounds, and to do more with less, such as enabling patients to be treated faster requiring fewer resources, or moved from acute to homecare settings. The company does this across its three segments of Advanced Wound Care (AWC), Advanced Wound Bioactives (AWB) and Advanced Wound Devices (AWD).

The franchise model is designed to ensure that the company has subject and market experts leading specialist teams dedicated to serving the specific requirements of the company’s customers. The company’s franchises are responsible for strategy, determining which products it takes to market. The franchises work closely with R&D to ensure the company is developing products that address unmet needs and with Global Operations to ensure the company has appropriate product availability to meet customer needs. The company’s regional organizations sell to its customers. In the U.S., the company’s largest market, the commercial teams were organised by franchise and led by the franchise presidents.

ALLEVYN LIFE Foam Dressings complement a shared wound care approach by enabling nurses and patients to support healing. Smith+Nephew started as a wound care company and through the company’s Advanced Wound Care business it has grown to be a leader in the segment. The company’s portfolio includes products that are designed to manage exudate and infection, protect the skin and help prevent pressure injuries.

In exudate management, the company’s products provide appropriate wound fluid handling and absorption to help promote an optimal wound healing environment. The company’s ALLEVYN LIFE Foam Dressing is uniquely differentiated, with its EXUMASK change indicator and hyper-absorbent lock away layer with EXULOCK technology for odour control and fluid lock-in. The effectiveness of the ALLEVYN Dressing range has been demonstrated across 138 publications in 19 countries on over 12,000 patients and volunteers. In 2022, the company introduced in Europe and the U.S.A. its DURAMAX S Silicone Superabsorbent Dressing for highly exuding wounds. Superabsorbers are one of the fastest growing categories of dressings in Europe.

In infection management, the company’s key silver-based ACTICOAT Antimicrobial Barrier Dressings, DURAFIBER Ag Absorbent Gelling Silver Fibrous Dressing, ALLEVYN Ag Antimicrobial Foam Dressing, as well as its range of IODOSORB Cadexomer Iodine products provide clinicians with a range of solutions to address bacterial burden, biofilm and infection. The company’s Advanced Wound Bioactives portfolio provides a unique approach to debridement, dermal repair, and tissue substitutes with considerable evidence supporting their clinical application.

In its skin substitute product range, GRAFIX Placental Membranes and STRAVIX Umbilical Tissues retain the extracellular matrix, growth factors and native placental components to support wound closure. In addition, the company offers OASIS Matrix and OASIS MICRO products, which are naturally derived scaffolds of extracellular matrix (ECM), composed of porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS) and indicated for the management of a wide range of acute and chronic wounds, burns and surgical interventions.

In Advanced Wound Devices, the company’s portfolio helps improve healing outcomes in chronic wounds, reduces surgical site complications and facilitates preventative care for pressure injuries. Within the negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) category, the company offers single-use and traditional (cannister-based) solutions offering customers a one-stop-shop with great flexibility.

The company’s PICO range of single-use negative pressure wound therapy systems with its proprietary AIRLOCK Technology layer has demonstrated significant healing outcomes for chronic wounds and in the reduction of surgical site complications in closed incisions, in a highly portable form that allows patients to return to their lives. The company’s traditional RENASYS NPWT System offers options for the hospital and home setting.

AWD also includes the LEAF Patient Monitoring System that supports a hospital’s pressure injury prevention strategy, and the VERSAJET Hydrosurgery System, a surgical debridement device.

Smith+Nephew’s Advanced Wound Management franchise is also focused on utilizing digital technology and data analytics to provide new forms of value to the company’s customers. In 2022, the company launched the award-winning WOUND COMPASS Clinical Support App, a comprehensive digital support tool for healthcare professionals that helps reduce practice variation.

Regions

Three regional organizations sell to the company’s customers.

The U.S./Americas

In the U.S., the company’s largest market, the commercial teams are organized by franchise and led by the franchise presidents. The President Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine & ENT and Americas also led the company’s teams in LATAM and Canada.

Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA)

The company’s EMEA commercial organization is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and led by the President of EMEA Region.

Asia Pacific

The company’s APAC commercial organization is headquartered in Singapore and led by the President of APAC Region.

In 2022, the company opened the Smith+Nephew Academy Singapore, a major medical education and digital innovation centre covering the Asia-Pacific region.

Strategy

The key elements of the company’s strategy are to accelerate profitable growth through prioritisation and customer focus; strengthen the foundation to serve customers sustainably and simply; disruption to business operations due to a significant cybersecurity incident; transform its business through innovation and acquisition; failure to integrate newly acquired business effectively to achieve expected grow; and transform its business through innovation and acquisition.

Acquisitions

In January 2022, the company acquired Engage Surgical, owner of the only cementless partial knee system commercially available in the U.S. This gives the company a unique position as the only company offering total and partial cemented and cementless knees in the U.S., its largest market.

Research and Development (R&D)

For the year ended December 31, 2022, the company invested $345 million in R&D.

Competition

In the company’s Orthopaedics franchise, it is one of four leading players, competing against the U.S.-based companies, such as Stryker; Zimmer Biomet; and DePuy Synthes. In Sports Medicine, the company holds a leading position behind Arthrex (the U.S.); and also competes against Stryker and DePuy Mitek (a division of Johnson & Johnson). In the Advanced Wound Care sub-segment, the company competes with Mölnlycke (Sweden), Coloplast (Denmark) and ConvaTec (UK).

History

Smith & Nephew plc was founded in 1856. The company was incorporated in 1937.