Blueprint
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C.
20549
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934
March 13, 2019
Commission
File Number 001-14978
SMITH & NEPHEW
plc
(Registrant's
name)
15 Adam
Street
London, England WC2N 6LA
(Address
of registrant's principal executive offices)
[Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file
annual
reports
under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.]
Form
20-F
X
Form 40-F
---
---
[Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K
in
paper
as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1).]
Yes
No X
---
---
[Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K
in
paper
as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7).]
Yes
No X
---
---
[Indicate
by check mark whether by furnishing the information
contained
in this
Form, the registrant is also thereby furnishing information to
the
Commission
pursuant to Rule 12g3-2 (b) under the Securities Exchange Act
of
1934.]
Yes
No X
---
---
If
"Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to
the
registrant
in connection with Rule 12g3-2 (b) : 82- n/a.
Smith & Nephew establishes multi-asset digital surgery and
robotic ecosystem
13 March 2019
Smith & Nephew (LSE: SN, NYSE: SNN), the global medical
technology company, today announces product launches and
investments that establish its multi-asset digital surgery and
robotic ecosystem.
Namal
Nawana, Chief Executive Officer, said:
"Smith & Nephew is making a long-term commitment to bring
together advanced technologies in robotics, digital surgery, and
machine learning as well as augmented reality to empower surgeons
and improve clinical outcomes. Over time these digital surgery and
robotic assets will be deployed across all surgical specialities
and healthcare settings where Smith & Nephew's operates,
starting with orthopaedic reconstruction and sports
medicine."
NAVIO◊ Surgical
System
Currently in development, NAVIO 7.0 is the next version of Smith
& Nephew's handheld robotic surgical system. NAVIO 7.0 is being
designed to improve the surgeon experience through a new intuitive
interface, expanded surgical preferences, and streamlined workflow
which may reduce surgery time over the previous version. It
will also bring the ANTHEM Total Knee System for Emerging Markets
onto NAVIO. The NAVIO 7.0 demo is on show on Smith & Nephew's
booth at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual
Meeting 2019 (Las Vegas March 13-15), alongside a new virtual
reality training module for robotics-assisted surgery developed for
NAVIO by Osso VR.
NAVIO 7.0 software has not been cleared by the FDA for distribution
in the United States and is not yet commercially available, but is
planned for the second half of 2019.
Next generation robot announced
Development of Smith & Nephew's next generation surgical
robotics platform is planned to be complete in late 2019, ahead of
full commercial release in 2020. The platform dramatically reduces
the physical footprint, enabling it to be incorporated into Smith
& Nephew's sports medicine tower. This, together with its
CT-free technology, makes it an ideal solution for all surgical
settings, including ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Advances in
surgical workflows, data acquisition and connectivity will ensure
the platform is faster again than NAVIO 7.0, further reducing
procedure times.
In addition, our R&D programme is focused on a number of
options to broaden this platform for customers, including
incorporating augmented reality, stand-alone robotic arms and
machine learning technologies.
Design and development partnership with Brainlab
Smith & Nephew has agreed to purchase the Brainlab Orthopaedic
Joint Reconstruction business used in over 500 accounts worldwide.
Smith & Nephew has also acquired the Brainlab associated
salesforce, which will be integrated into its own robotics
commercial organisation, supporting the acceleration of this
business, and certain other intangible assets. By working together,
the companies will provide an exciting upgrade path with more
capabilities for both Brainlab and Smith & Nephew customers.
Smith & Nephew's initial priority will be to install the
Brainlab hip software onto NAVIO 7.0 and to upgrade current NAVIO
users to the new platform.
Smith & Nephew and Brainlab will also collaborate on developing
additional applications, including digital surgery among others, to
enhance the functionality of Smith & Nephew's advanced
automation platform and expand its clinical indications. Work will
initially be focused on orthopaedic reconstruction and sports
medicine, with opportunities to expand into other surgical
specialities thereafter. The platform will be compatible with the
Brainlab digital operating room offering, allowing the sharing of
data to improve future clinical practice, and will support
augmented reality as adoption advances.
Skip Kiil, President of Orthopaedics at Smith & Nephew,
said:
"The near term commercial opportunities with the innovation of our
robotics platform and the integration of the Brainlab hip software
are very compelling. Not to mention, the strong collaboration on
design and development of next generation technology that will
bring our customers more differentiated advanced surgical
capabilities. We're excited to work together with Brainlab to
bring the future of the digitally integrated O.R. to life and into
the hands of surgeons world-wide."
New R&D and medical education center
Smith & Nephew also announces that it is opening a world-class
R&D and medical education training facility for robotics in
Pittsburgh, U.S, the home of its robotics business. This will
triple its floor space for robotics and Smith & Nephew is
recruiting to support its expansion with details of current
opportunities available on the careers section of its
website.
The commercial terms of the innovation partnership with and
acquisition from Brainlab and the lease of the new facility in
Pittsburgh have not been disclosed.
Enquiries
Investors
Andrew
Swift
+44 (0) 20 7960 2285
Smith
& Nephew
Media
Charles Reynolds
+44
(0) 1923 477314
Smith
& Nephew
Ben Atwell/ Andrew Ward
+44 (0) 20 3727 1000
FTI
Strategic Consulting
About Smith & Nephew
Smith & Nephew is a portfolio medical technology business with
leadership positions in Orthopaedics, Advanced Wound Management and
Sports Medicine. Smith & Nephew has more than 16,000 employees
and a presence in more than 100 countries. Annual sales in 2018
were $4.9 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 and
follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.
About Brainlab
Brainlab, headquartered in Munich, develops, manufactures and
markets software-driven medical technology, enabling access to
advanced, less invasive patient treatments.
Core products center on information-guided surgery, radiosurgery,
precision radiation therapy, digital operating room integration,
and information and knowledge exchange. Brainlab technology powers
treatments in radiosurgery and radiotherapy as well as numerous
surgical fields including neurosurgery, orthopaedic, ENT, CMF,
spine and trauma.
Privately held since its formation in Munich, Germany in 1989,
Brainlab has more than 12,300 systems installed in over 100
countries. Brainlab employs more than 1,350 people in 18 offices
worldwide, including more than 420 Research & Development
engineers, who form a crucial part of the product development
team.
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 or other problems with quality management
systems or failure to comply with related regulations; litigation
relating to patent or other claims; legal compliance risks and
related investigative, remedial or enforcement actions; disruption
to our supply chain or operations or those of our suppliers;
competition for qualified personnel; 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. Certain marks registered US Patent and Trademark
Office.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
Smith
& Nephew Plc
(Registrant)
Date: March
13, 2019
By: /s/
Susan Swabey
-----------------
Susan
Swabey
Company
Secretary