Smith & Nephew's JOURNEY II UK Knee System Executes Surgeries

Smith & Nephew (LON:SN), plc (NYSE:SNN) recently announced the complete execution of the first-ever surgeries using its new JOURNEY II Unicompartmental Knee (UK) System.

This development is expected to provide a major impetus to the company’s Orthopaedics segment.

More on JOURNEY II UK System

The system integrates both an enhanced size range and lateral specific implant, which facilitates surgeons performing partial knee arthroplasty to maintain the shape, position and motion of a normal knee joint. The new JOURNEY II UK system has been developed to provide swifter recovery, better functionalityand improved patient outcomes than other unicompartmental options currently available in the market.

The system merges a simplistic surgical technique with an implant offering additional sizes for optimum coverage. The system is also cost-effective as it results in reduced OR footprint. Moreover, when used with the NAVI Handheld Robotics and VISIONAIRE Patient Matched Instrumentation, Smith & Nephew offers healthcare experts an unparalleled solution portfolio for partial knee replacements.

JOURNEY II UK leverages on the most superior technology from Smith & Nephew’s successful JOURNEY II platform as well as its ZUK Unicompartmental Knee.

Global commercial rollout of JOURNEY II UK is slated to begin in early 2020.

Market Prospects

Per Mordor Intelligence, the knee replacement market is expected to witness a CAGR of nearly 3.7% during the forecast period of 2019-2024. Hence, this development comes at an ideal time.

Recent Developments

Management is optimistic about the long-term opportunity for consistent use of technology and big data in combination with the company’s next generation robotics platform applied through the orthopaedics care cycle. Lately, the company has been investing in a few crucial product launches that are expected to strengthen its presence in the Orthopaedics market.

In November 2019, Smith & Nephew launched OR3O Dual Mobility System for use in primary and revision hip arthroplasty. This dual mobility implant uses a unique OXINIUM DH metal alloy and offers enhanced stability and an increased range of motion.

Price Performance

Over the past year, the stock has rallied 18.2% compared with the broader industry’s growth of 5.7%.

Zacks Rank & Stocks Worth a Look

Smith & Nephew currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Haemonetics Corporation (NYSE:HAE) , NuVasive, Inc (NASDAQ:NUVA) and ResMed (NYSE:RMD) . While ResMed sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), the other two carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Haemonetics has a projected long-term earnings growth rate of 13.5%.

NuVasive has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 10.9%.

ResMed has a long-term earnings growth rate of 12.9%.

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