Smith & Nephew and OrthoSensor to co-market VERASENSE™ Sensor Assisted Surgery with JOURNEY™ II and LEGION™ Total Knee Replacements

LONDON, March 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN;LSE:SN), the global medical technology business, and OrthoSensor, the leader in intelligent orthopaedics, announced today an agreement that will enable surgeons to benefit from OrthoSensor's VERASENSE Sensor Assisted Surgery Technology for soft tissue balancing when implanting Smith & Nephew's JOURNEY™ II and LEGION™ Total Knee Systems.

VERASENSE utilizes advanced sensor technologies to enable evidence-based surgical decisions regarding component position, limb alignment and soft tissue balance to optimize outcomes in total knee replacement. Research shows that patients whose knees have been balanced with the VERASENSE Knee System report less pain and experience greater improvements in function, activity levels and satisfaction post-operatively. ¹

"Proper alignment and soft-tissue balance are vital to achieving favorable biomechanics in total knee replacement procedures," said Dr. Steven Haas, Chief of the Knee Service at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery. "VERASENSE not only allows me to verify the benefits of newer knee designs, it also helps ensure proper knee balance, which leads to a more normal feeling knee and a return to the active lifestyle these patients desire."

"Our JOURNEY II Total Knee System with VERILAST™ Technology is already delivering improved knee motion, patient function and implant wear reduction²," said Gaurav Agarwal, President of Orthopaedic Reconstruction for Smith & Nephew. "By combining our innovations with VERASENSE's exacting component placement and soft-tissue balancing our surgeons can deliver even more benefits to patients."

Historically, soft tissue balancing has been accomplished by subjective surgeon feel. The VERASENSE Knee System now provides surgeons with real-time, quantitative data that enables evidence-based, intraoperative decisions regarding component position, limb alignment and soft tissue releases to achieve balance and stability through a full range of motion.  At one-year, 97% of patients whose knees were quantifiably balanced using the VERASENSE Knee System said they were 'satisfied' to 'very satisfied' with the outcome of their total knee arthroplasty (TKA), a marked improvement over the average 81% satisfaction reported in literature.³

Jay Pierce, President and CEO of OrthoSensor, added, "We are seeing promising improvements in clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction in a multi-center study tracking patients balanced with VERASENSE.  We are pleased to work with Smith & Nephew to enable more surgeons to better treat their patients with our technology and the JOURNEY II and LEGION Total Knee Systems."

¹Gustke K, Golladay G, Roche M, Elson L, Anderson C. New Method for Defining Balance: Promising Short-Term Clinical Outcomes of Sensor-Guided TKA. J Arthroplasty. 2013 Oct 24. pii: S0883-5403(13)00802-4. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2013.10.020. [Epub ahead of print]

²Catani F, Ensini A, Belvedere C, Feliciangeli A, Benedetti MG, Leardini A, Giannini S. In vivo kinematics and kinetics of a bi-cruciate substituting total knee arthroplasty: a combined fluoroscopic and gait analysis study. J Orthop Res. 2009 Dec;27(12):1569-75.

³OrthoSensor Multicenter Evaluation 1-Year Results (pending publication).

About VERILAST Technology
VERILAST Technology is a unique combination of two advanced, wear-reducing materials: Smith & Nephew's award-winning OXINIUM™ Oxidized Zirconium, a ceramicised metal alloy, and a "cross-linked" plastic component (XLPE).

About Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business dedicated to helping healthcare professionals improve people's lives. With leadership positions in Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Advanced Wound Management, Sports Medicine and Trauma & Extremities, Smith & Nephew has around 11,000 employees and a presence in more than 90 countries. Annual sales in 2013 were more than $4.3 billion. Smith & Nephew is a member of the FTSE100 (LSE: SN, NYSE: SNN).

For more information about Smith & Nephew, please visit our corporate website www.smith-nephew.com, follow @SmithNephewplc on Twitter or visit SmithNephewplc on Facebook.com

About OrthoSensor

OrthoSensor, Inc. develops and commercializes intelligent orthopaedic devices and data services that provide quantitative feedback to surgeons and hospitals. The company's intelligent orthopaedic devices utilize advanced proprietary sensor and communications technologies coupled with the company's innovative software products to enable evidence-based orthopaedic surgery and a vision of improving patient outcomes and reducing the cost of treating musculoskeletal disease. For more information about OrthoSensor or the VERASENSE Knee System, please visit: www.orthosensor.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements that may or may not prove accurate. For example, statements regarding expected revenue growth and trading margins, market trends and our product pipeline are forward-looking statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "well-placed", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "consider" and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by the statements. For Smith & Nephew, these factors include: economic and financial conditions in the markets we serve, especially those affecting health care providers, payers and customers; price levels for established and innovative medical devices; developments in medical technology; regulatory approvals, reimbursement decisions or other government actions; product defects or recalls; litigation relating to patent or other claims; legal compliance risks and related investigative, remedial or enforcement actions; strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions, our success in performing due diligence, valuing and integrating acquired businesses; disruption that may result from transactions or other changes we make in our business plans or organisation to adapt to market developments; and numerous other matters that affect us or our markets, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or reputational nature. Please refer to the documents that Smith & Nephew has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith & Nephew's most recent annual report on Form 20-F, for a discussion of certain of these factors. Any forward-looking statement is based on information available to Smith & Nephew as of the date of the statement. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Smith & Nephew are qualified by this caution. Smith & Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in circumstances or in Smith & Nephew's expectations.

™ Trademark of Smith & Nephew.  Registered US Patent and Trademark Office.

OrthoSensor and VERASENSE are trademarks of OrthoSensor, Inc. Registered US Patent and Trademark Office.

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SOURCE Smith & Nephew

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