Smith+Nephew to Sponsor Wimbledon Players

Reflecting on its positive experience during last year’s title contests, Smith+Nephew is once again supporting select players during high-profile championship matches at Wimbledon 2025. The world’s oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament is an ideal method to showcase the ways in which the company’s Sports Medicine product portfolio can help patients (and athletes), Smith+Nephew claims.

Tennis is a high-impact sport that places great stress on various areas of the body—especially joints— often resulting in injury. Some of the latest technologies and solutions from Smith+Nephew for joint repair include:

• REGENETEN◊ Bioinductive Implant: With more than 150,000 procedures¹ completed globally since its introduction in 2014, the REGENETEN Bioinductive Implant has had a transformative impact amongst those having surgery for rotator cuff tears; demonstrating lower re-tear rates than reported compared to conventional techniques.^2-6 Backed by level one clinical evidence,² the collagen-based implant supports the body’s natural healing response to facilitate new tendon-like tissue formation to biologically augment the existing tendon and change the course of rotator cuff tear progression.^7-12     
• CARTIHEAL◊ AGILI-C◊ Cartilage Repair Implant: Derived from a naturally occurring calcium carbonate known as aragonite, the CARTIHEAL Implant is a biphasic scaffold for cartilage repair and subchondral bone restoration.^13-15 Shown to deliver clinically meaningful post-operative improvements in pain, function and quality of life,* the CARTIHEAL Implant is the only device approved for the treatment of knee cartilage and osteochondral defects in patients with or without mild to moderate osteoarthritis (KL 0-3).^13,16
• Q-FIX◊ KNOTLESS All-Suture Anchor: Building on the success and performance of the Q-FIX Family for best-in-class anchor fixation strength,**^17-21 the new Q-FIX KNOTLESS All-Suture Anchor raises the bar for all-suture anchor technology. With proprietary features and capabilities, the Q-FIX KNOTLESS All-Suture Anchor aims to set a new benchmark for soft tissue security†²² and offer surgeons a new option for soft tissue-to-bone fixation indications across multiple joint spaces.

“Our inaugural turn sponsoring select players during The Championships, Wimbledon in 2024 was a tremendous success supporting athletes from across the globe—including Jasmine Paolini all the way to the Ladies Final,” said Christie van Geffen, senior vice president of Global Sports Medicine Marketing for Smith+Nephew. “We were able to uniquely feature the Smith+Nephew brand along with our Sports Medicine technology portfolio, designed to help weekend warriors and world-class athletes get back to competing and doing what they love.”

Smith+Nephew focuses on the repair, regeneration and replacement of soft and hard tissue. The company’s 17,000 employees make a difference in patients’ lives through its products and the invention and application of new technologies across Smith+Nephew’s three global business units: Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine & ENT and Advanced Wound Management. Founded in Hull, U.K., in 1856, the company now operates in about 100 countries, and generated $5.8 billion in 2024 sales. Smith+Nephew is a constituent of the FTSE100.

* Over a 2 and 4 year follow up
** As compared to competitive devices in fixation/pull-out benchtop testing
† As compared to the competitive device in cyclic benchtop testing

 References
¹ Smith+Nephew. Internal Data.
² Ruiz Ibán MÁ, García Navlet M, Moros Marco S, et al. Augmentation of a Transosseous-Equivalent Repair in Posterosuperior Nonacute Rotator Cuff Tears With a Bioinductive Collagen Implant Decreases the Retear Rate at One Year: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery. 2023:1-14.
³ Bushnell BD, Connor PM, Harris HW, et al. Retear rates and clinical outcomes at 1 year after repair of full-thickness rotator cuff tears augmented with a bioinductive collagen implant: a prospective multicenter study. JSES international. 2021;5(2):228.
⁴ Hein J, Reilly JM, Chae J, Maerz T, Anderson K. Retear Rates After Arthroscopic Single-Row, Double Row, and Suture Bridge Rotator Cuff Repair at a Minimum of 1 Year of Imaging Follow-up: A Systematic Review. Arthroscopy. 2015;31(11):2274-2281.
⁵ Camacho-Chacon JA, Cuenca-Espierrez J, Roda-Rojo V, et al. Bioinductive collagen implants facilitate tendon regeneration in rotator cuff tears. J Exp Orthop. 2022;9(1):53.
⁶ Smith + Nephew 2019.An overview of the outcomes associated with the standard of care for the surgical treatment of rotator cuff tears. Internal Report EO/SPM/REGENETEN/005/v1.
⁷ Bokor DJ, Sonnabend D, Deady L, et al. Evidence of healing of partial-thickness rotator cuff tears following arthroscopic augmentation with a collagen implant: a 2-year MRI follow-up. Muscles, Ligaments Tendons J. 2016;6(1):16-25.
⁸ Schlegel TF, Abrams JS, Bushnell BD, Brock JL, Ho CP. Radiologic and clinical evaluation of a bioabsorbable collagen implant to treat partial-thickness tears: a prospective multicenter study. J Shoulder Elbow Surg. 2018 27(2):242-251.
⁹ Van Kampen C, Arnoczky S, Parks P, et al. Tissue-engineered augmentation of a rotator cuff tendon using a reconstituted collagen scaffold: a histological evaluation in sheep. Muscles Ligaments Tendons J. 2013;3(3):229-235.
¹⁰ Arnoczky SP, Bishai SK, Schofield B, et al. Histologic Evaluation of Biopsy Specimens Obtained After Rotator Cuff Repair Augmented With a Highly Porous Collagen Implant. Arthroscopy. 2017;33(2):278-283
¹¹ Bokor DJ, Sonnabend DH, Deady L, et al. Healing of partial-thickness rotator cuff tears following arthroscopic augmentation with a highly porous collagen implant: a 5-year clinical and MRI follow-up. Muscles, Ligaments Tendons J. 2019;9(3):338-347.
¹² McElvany MD, McGoldrick E, Gee AO, Neradilek MB, Matsen FA, 3rd. Rotator cuff repair: published evidence on factors associated with repair integrity and clinical outcome. Am J Sports Med. 2015;43(2):491-500.
¹³ Altschuler N, Zaslav KR, Di Matteo B, et al. Aragonite-Based Scaffold Versus Microfracture and Debridement for the Treatment of Knee Chondral and Osteochondral Lesions: Results of a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial. Am J Sports Med. 2023;51(4):957-967. doi:10.1177/03635465231151252
¹⁴ Kon E, Di Matteo B, Verdonk P, et al. Aragonite-Based Scaffold for the Treatment of Joint Surface Lesions in Mild to Moderate Osteoarthritic Knees: Results of a 2-Year Multicenter Prospective Study. Am J Sports Med. 2021;49(3):588-598.
¹⁵ Kon E, Filardo G, Shani J, et al. Osteochondral regeneration with a novel aragonite-hyaluronate biphasic scaffold: up to 12-month follow-up study in a goat model. J Orthop Surg Res. 2015;10:81.
¹⁶ Conte P, Anzillotti G, Crawford DC, et al. Differential analysis of the impact of lesions’ location on clinical and radiological outcomes after the implantation of a novel aragonite-based scaffold to treat knee cartilage defects. Int Orthop. 2024;48(12):3117-3126
¹⁷ Douglass NP, et al. Arthroscopy. 2017;33(5):977-985 e975.
¹⁸ Ergun S, et al. Arthroscopy. 2020; 2(3):e263-e275.
¹⁹ Smith+Nephew 2023. Internal Report. 10090792- Revision B.
²⁰ ArthroCare Corporation 2017. Internal Report. P/N 49190-03 Rev. B.
²¹ Smith+Nephew 2024. Internal Report. 10144423 Rev B.
²² Smith and Nephew 10144423 Rev B