HULL, England, July 14 --

Smith Nephew’s Advanced Wound Management division (LSE: SN) (NYSE: SNN)
announced that the UK Court of Appeal has ruled as invalid all claims asserted
against Smith and Nephew of the patent EP 0 626 720 that is licensed to Kinetic
Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI). As a result, the preliminary injunction against
Smith Nephew’s RENASYS(TM)-F NPWT system has been lifted.

The Patents Court had ruled on 1 May, 2009 that 7 out of 10 claims asserted
were invalid but that the remaining 3 had been infringed by Smith Nephews
RENASYS-F dressing. This decision was appealed and subsequently won by Smith
Nephew with today’s Court ruling.

This favourable ruling for Smith Nephew clears a major legal hurdle in the UK
allowing us to offer our customers the breadth of NPWT products with proven
clinical efficacy, said Robin Carlstein, Senior Vice President of Advanced Wound
Devices at Smith Nephew. Clearly, we are pleased with the UK Court of
Appeal’s findings in this matter and look forward to servicing our
customers with our RENASYS(TM)-F NPWT products in a very important market for
the company.

For more information regarding Smith Nephew, please visit our Web site at
http://www.smith-nephew.com

About Smith Nephew

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 nearly US$3.8 billion.

Forward-Looking Statements

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.

All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information
available to Smith Nephew as of the date hereof. All written or oral
forward-looking statements attributable to Smith Nephew or any person acting on
behalf of Smith Nephew are expressly qualified in their entirety by the
foregoing. Smith Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Smith
Nephew’s expectation with regard thereto or any change in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

SOURCE: Smith SOURCE: Nephew

Steve DiMattia, Managing Director of EVC Group, Inc., +1-646-201-5445, for Smith
Nephew; or Robin Carlstein, Senior Vice President of Smith Nephew Advanced
Wound Devices, +1-727-399-3746