Smith & Nephew's Advanced Wound Management division (NYSE:SNN) announced that the UK Court of Appeal has ruled as invalid all claims asserted against Smith and Nephew of the patent EP 0 626 720 that is licensed to Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI). As a result, the preliminary injunction against Smith & Nephew's RENASYS(TM)-F NPWT system has been lifted.

The Patents Court had ruled on 1 May, 2009 that 7 out of 10 claims asserted were invalid but that the remaining 3 had been infringed by Smith & Nephews RENASYS-F dressing. This decision was appealed and subsequently won by Smith & Nephew with today's Court ruling.

"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," said Robin Carlstein, Senior Vice President of Advanced Wound Devices at Smith & Nephew. "Clearly, we are pleased with the UK Court of Appeal's findings in this matter and look forward to servicing our customers with our RENASYS(TM)-F NPWT products in a very important market for the company."

Source
Smith & Nephew