Smith & Nephew has announced an agreement to acquire Ceterix Orthopaedics, Inc. for $105 million. The deal is structured as an initial cash payment of $50 million followed by up to an additional $55 million over the next five years, depending on the company’s financial performance.
UK-based Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business with over 15,000 employees worldwide and a presence in more than 100 countries. Smith & Nephew’s business focuses on orthopedic reconstruction, sports medicine, trauma and extremities, and advanced wound management.
Ceterix Orthopaedics is a developer of surgical tools for physicians who treat soft tissue joint injuries. Ceterix is the manufacturer of the NovoStitch Pro Meniscal Repair System. The NovoStitch Pro enables surgeons to place stitches arthroscopically in tight joint compartments. This innovative technology allows the repair of complex meniscal tears that were unable to be repaired in the past.
The NovoStitch Pro complements Smith & Nephew’s FAST-FIX 360 Meniscal Repair system, which repairs vertical tears, the most commonly repairable type of meniscal injury.
Over 1.2 million meniscal tears are treated surgically in the United States each year. Currently only 15-20% of those cases are able to be repaired; the rest require removal. Smith & Nephew anticipates that devices such as the NovoStitch Pro and FAST-FIX 360 Meniscal Repair system will double the ability to repair meniscal injuries in the medium term.
Brad Cannon, president Sports Medicine and ENT at Smith & Nephew said, “NovoStitch Pro is an outstanding technology that addresses an unmet clinical need…We are excited by the opportunities to take this new option to our customers. No other company is better positioned to support changing clinical practice as the standard for meniscal treatment pivots from resection to repair.”
John McCutcheon, CEO of Ceterix, said, “We are proud of the impact our technology has made in developing the meniscal repair market and are excited by the opportunity to reach many more customers and their patients as an integrated part of Smith & Nephew’s extensive Sports Medicine portfolio.”
