Smith & Nephew launches new single use negative pressure wound treatment

Medical technology company Smith & Nephew launched its new PICO 7 single-use negative pressure wound therapy system to the European market on Wednesday, setting the group up to deliver further revenue growth from its advanced wound devices division.

Pico 7, which S&N said delivered a "more efficient vacuum" and "superior leak management", was designed to support improved application on anatomically challenging areas of the body where it had historically been more difficult to achieve and maintain a seal over the wound.

"With Pico we revolutionised the use of negative pressure wound therapy, making a treatment previously only available in a hospital inpatient setting available to outpatients in a clinical and cost-effective portable solution," said Paolo Di Vincenzo, S&N's senior vice president of advanced wound management.

The seventh iteration of the Pico system, he said "significant" design improvements had been made to improve patient outcomes and healthcare professionals' efficiency, to keep the product at the forefront of the portable negative pressure solutions space.

Advanced wound devices delivered $598m of revenue for S&N in the first half of the year, with minimal growth, but grew at 8% in the third quarter ended 30 September 2017, principally led by its disposable negative pressure wound therapy.

As of 1040 GMT on Wednesday, shares had inched ahead 0.99% to 1,227.00p.