Smith and Nephew clears “major legal hurdle”

Smith & Nephew has announced that it has cleared a “major legal hurdle” in the UK.

The company made this comment as the UK Court of Appeal has ruled all claims made against it relating to the patent EP 0 626 720, which is licensed to Kinetic Concepts, are invalid.

As a result of these findings, a preliminary injunction against Smith & Nephew’s RENASYS-F NPWT system has been rescinded.

Commenting on the news, Robin Carlstein, senior vice-president of advanced wound devices at Smith & Nephew, said that the firm’s RENASYS-F NPWT products service a “very important” market for the company.

“This favourable ruling for Smith & Nephew clears a major legal hurdle in the UK allowing us to offer our customers the breadth of NPWT products with proven clinical efficacy,” he added.

Smith & Nephew is due to announce its second quarter and interim 2009 results for the period ended June 27th 2009 on July 30th.