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Clinical specialists to present clinical experience at American Burn Association Meeting

St. Petersburg, FL – March 24, 2009 – Smith & Nephew Inc’s Advanced Wound Management division (LSE: SN; NYSE: SNN) will host a clinical symposium titled “Optimizing Outcomes in Burn Care” at the 41st Annual Meeting of the American Burn Association.  At this symposium, top burn specialists will present their clinical work with Smith & Nephew’s VERSAJET^◊ Hydrosurgery system, ACTICOAT^◊ antimicrobial barrier dressings, and RENASYS^◊ Negative Pressure Wound Therapy products, and their synergistic use of these products to manage complex burn wounds and soft tissue injuries.  The symposium begins at 12:15pm on Thursday, March 26th in Room 007AB/Convention Center of the San Antonio Convention Center.

“For more than 150 years, Smith & Nephew has been a leader in wound and burn care, and the company works hard to maintain its exceptional reputation among clinicians for superior products and services,” said Tom Dugan, North American President of Advanced Wound Management at Smith & Nephew. “Smith & Nephew provides a comprehensive platform for the preparation, protection and progression towards healing of complex burns and other soft tissue injuries, helping clinicians at every stage of burn treatment deliver the best possible care, and deliver value to their healthcare institutions.”

The symposium will consist of the following presentations:

• Preparing the wound bed utilizing VERSAJET in burns and soft tissue injuries -- Rajiv Sood, MD, FACS Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine and Medical Director at Richard M. Fairbanks from the Burn Center at Wishard Health Services, Indianapolis, IN. 
• Importance of first line antimicrobial intervention with ACTICOAT in high risk wounds -- Anthony Papp, MD, PhD, FRCSC, Clinical Associate Professor, University of British Columbia and Medical Director for the BC Professional Firefighters’ Burn Unit at Vancouver General Hospital, British Columbia.
• Progressing the acute wound to closure using RENASYS -- Marianne Cinat, MD, FACS, Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of California, Irvine and is Director, Surgical Critical Care Fellowship and Director of UC Irvine Burn Center, Orange, CA.
• Synergistic usage of products in the management of complex burn wounds and soft tissue injuries -- A panel with Drs. Sood, Papp and Cinat.

“With its broad range of tools for wound management, Smith & Nephew has provided the advanced technology clinicians need for the research and clinical work required to improve patient outcomes, operate more efficiently and reduce the costs of delivering quality care,” said Dr. Cinat.  “The addition of a new NPWT solution has been very important.  Smith & Nephew’s new RENASYS foam and gauze wound interfaces provide us with greater clinical choice to select treatment according to the needs of each individual patient.  RENASYS is an efficacious and cost-effective solution and patients find it more comfortable, a critical consideration for patient quality of life and compliance.”

Smith & Nephew will feature its “Prepare, Protect and Progress” Wound Care Platform, which includes the VERSAJET, ACTICOAT and RENASYS products, at Booth 101 of the American Burn Association’s 41st Annual Meeting, to be held March 24-27 at the San Antonio Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. 

For more information about Smith & Nephew, please go to www.smith-nephew.com.

Press
Steve DiMattia +1 646 201 5445
Managing Director
EVC Group, Inc.

Investors and Analysts
Liz Hewitt +44 (0)20 7401 7646
Group Director Corporate Affairs
Smith & Nephew

Other Inquiries
Tom Dugan +1 (727) 399-3743
North American President
Smith & Nephew Advanced Wound Management

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Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business, specializing in Orthopaedics, including Reconstruction, Trauma and Clinical Therapies; Endoscopy and Advanced Wound Management.  Smith & Nephew is a global leader in arthroscopy and advanced wound management and is one of the leading global orthopaedics companies.

Smith & Nephew is dedicated to helping improve people's lives.  The Company prides itself on the strength of its relationships with its surgeons and professional healthcare customers, with whom its name is synonymous with high standards of performance, innovation and trust.  The Company operates in 32 countries around the world.  Annual sales in 2008 were $3.8 billion.

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  In particular, statements regarding expected revenue growth and trading margins discussed under "Outlook" are forward-looking statements as are discussions of our product pipeline.  These statements, as well as the phrases "aim", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "well-placed", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "consider" and similar expressions, are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements.  Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors (including, but not limited to, the outcome of litigation, claims and regulatory approvals) that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Smith & Nephew, or industry results, to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Please refer to the documents that Smith & Nephew has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith & Nephew's most recent annual report on Form 20F, for a discussion of certain of these factors.

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