Medical Device Company Intelligence Reports provide a full review of the company's activities, from its origins to its latest corporate activity, including mergers and acquisitions, agreements, divestitures, major purchasing contracts and litigation. Sections are included on products, international activities and R&D, as well as a full, in-depth five year financial analysis. An introduction to each report and a full table of contents is provided for review. More than 60 Medical Device Company Intelligence Reports are currently available. Smith & Nephew (S&N), headquartered in London, UK, is a global medical device company engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of orthopaedic, endoscopy and advanced wound care products. The company operates within four divisions, as follows:-

Reconstruction - orthopaedic hip, knee, shoulder and extremity implants, instruments, bone cement and accessories. Products include the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) system, the first hip resurfacing product available in the US. The division is the largest of S&N's segments, accounting for 33% of total revenue in 2006. It is managed from Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Manufacturing takes place in Memphis, Germany and the UK.

Trauma & Clinical Therapies - trauma products include fixation devices and orthobiologics, and clinical therapies include bone growth stimulation and joint fluid therapy. In addition, S&N's out-patient spinal products, including IDET IntraDiscal ElectroThermal Therapy and discography, were transferred from the endoscopy unit to clinical therapies at the beginning of 2007. The division represented 18% of S&N's total sales in 2006. The business is managed from Memphis, Tennessee, USA, and manufacturing takes place in Memphis and Germany.

Endoscopy - mainly arthroscopy products. Includes fluid management and insufflation; digital video and image capture; visualisation; resection; and instruments and fixation materials to repair damaged tissue. The unit was expanded in July 2006 with the acquisition OsteoBiologics Inc, a manufacturer of bioabsorbable bone graft substitutes marketed in Europe and Canada for repairing cartilage defects in the knee. In the US, the material is marketed as a bone void filler. The segment accounted for 24% of S&N's revenue in 2006. It is based in Andover, Massachusetts, USA, and manufacturing is currently located in Andover and Mansfield, Massachusetts; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and San Antonio, Texas. The Andover facility will close later in 2007.

Advanced Wound Management - wound care products used from initial wound bed preparation to full wound closure, and mainly targeted at chronic wounds, burns and complex surgical wounds. It previously also offered Dermagraft and TransCyte tissue engineering products but, in October 2005, S&N announced it would exit these operations due to delays in the products achieving economic viability. In May 2006, the products were sold to Advanced BioHealing. The division generated 25% of S&N's total sales in 2006. It is headquartered in Hull, UK, with manufacturing in Hull and Gilberdyke, UK; and Largo, Florida, USA; as well as by third-party manufacturers.

For several years, S&N has looked at bolstering its position in the highly competitive and dynamic orthopaedics market through major acquisitions. In March 2003, the company agreed to buy Swiss orthopaedic company, Centerpulse, in a transaction which would have made it the world's third-largest orthopaedics company. However, in August 2003, Centerpulse rejected S&N's proposal and instead accepted a higher bid from US-based Zimmer, making Zimmer the market leader in reconstructive products. In March 2004, S&N acquired Midland Medical Technologies which, although a relatively small company, was the world's leading metal-on-metal hip resurfacing manufacturer, providing S&N with the BHR system and a solid position in this fast-growing area.

In March 2007, S&N formed an agreement to purchase Plus Orthopedics Holding AG, a private Swiss orthopaedic company, for SFr 1.09 billion (US$889 million) in cash, including assumed debt. Plus was founded in 1991 and has its origins in European-designed cementless hip systems. The company has worked with European surgeons to develop a range of orthopaedic implants, primarily hips and knees, as well as small joint and shoulder products. The product range is complementary to S&N's and includes threaded acetabular cups and revision products for hips, hinged fixed and mobile bearing designs for knees. The company reported revenue of SFr 367 million (US$300 million) in 2006, an increase of 16% over the previous year, and profit before interest and tax of SFr 44 million (US$36 million), an increase of 33% over 2005. S&N believes the acquisition will increase its share of the global orthopaedic reconstruction market to around 12%, taking S&N to the global number four position. It will also double S&N's share of the European orthopaedic reconstruction market.