Smith & Nephew Picks Durham for Biologics & Spine Office

Global medical device maker Smith & Nephew has chosen Durham, NC, as a base of operations for a new line of business that focuses on biologic therapies and spine products.

London-based Smith & Nephew, which employs more than 9,000 people worldwide, wants to position itself in the “Research Triangle area and have access to its lead research universities,” said company spokesman Robin Gilliland.

The company has leased 26,588 square feet at the new Carlisle Place office building in the Imperial Center corporate park, where Smith & Nephew will conduct research, develop products and build markets for its new Biologics & Spine business unit.

For now, the company is offering few additional details, including the number of employees it will have here, but a full floor at Carlisle Place is large enough to accommodate more than 75 staffers.

Gilliland said he is unsure when the Durham office will open.

A short description of the new biologics business unit added to the company’s Web site Oct. 15 said the division will be “exploring and commercializing next generation biologic therapies for our orthopaedic and advanced wound management businesses.” Biologics & Spine will be the fifth business unit for Smith & Nephew, which also has a unit focused on endoscopy products.

Charles Stanley & Co. analyst Jeremy Batstone-Carr said many pharmaceutical companies and some medical-device companies are expanding into the field of biologics, which can describe a wide class of medicines made from living sources, such as humans, animals, bacteria and viruses.

“It would be a departure for Smith & Nephew for sure,” Batstone-Carr wrote in an e-mail message from London. “The company has a wide-ranging programme underway to boost margins and earnings over the next five years or so, so the commitment of additional financial and management resources in this area which are already heavily populated by big pharma might be concerning.”

In the company’s second quarter 2008 financial report, released Aug. 7, Smith & Nephew CEO Dave Illingworth stated that the company is increasing collaboration among its units, including the new Biologics & Spine global business unit, which is bringing together the “pooled talents of our research teams from around the world.”

Smith & Nephew’s biggest US presence is in Memphis, TN, where more than 1,500 people work in the company’s orthopedic reconstruction, orthopedic trauma and clinical therapies divisions. In the U.S., the company also has major operations in Massachusetts and Florida and an orthopedics office in Charlotte, NC.

Smith & Nephew worked with economic developers from the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, the Durham Chamber of Commerce and others in researching the Durham community before deciding to expand in the Triangle, said Ted Conner, vice president of economic development for the Durham chamber. “We let them know our region welcomes them,” Conner said.

To his knowledge, Smith & Nephew has not qualified for economic incentives from the state, region or Durham County. Department of Commerce spokeswoman Kathy Neal said the department “can’t confirm or deny any information regarding Smith & Nephew.”

SOURCE: TRIANGLE BUSINESS JOURNAL