Smith & Nephew has signed an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Healthpoint Biotherapeutics for $782 million in cash.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in December 2012.

Healthpoint Biotherapeutics, founded in 1992 by Chairman and CEO Paul Dorman, has been focused on biopharmaceutical leadership in acute, chronic, and burn-related wound care over the last several years. The Company has driven impressive growth in its commercial platform, led by sales of Collagenase Santyl ointment, and also laid the groundwork for strong future growth through development of a novel cell therapy, HP802-247, which completed a successful phase 2b in 2011 (recently published in The Lancet) and for which a North American phase 3 trial was initiated this September.

“Healthpoint and Smith & Nephew have much in common,” stated Paul Dorman, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Healthpoint. “We share a commitment to innovation, the desire to serve healthcare professionals and a fundamental dedication to improve the quality of life for patients. We are very proud of our employees and the business we have built and believe now is the right time to allow it to grow to the next level by joining a global organization like Smith & Nephew.” “This acquisition makes a lot of sense for both companies,” stated Travis Baugh, President and Chief Operating Officer of Healthpoint Biotherapeutics. “It will enable us to accelerate many of the initiatives we wanted to pursue and will provide development and promotional opportunities to our employees that would not have been available to them had we stayed an independent company. It also gives Smith & Nephew a new engine for growth for the next decade and beyond.” Commenting, Olivier Bohuon, Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Nephew, said: “The acquisition of Healthpoint is an important step for Smith & Nephew, and for our Advanced Wound Management division. Strategically, it gives us a strong position in the fastest growing area of advanced wound management – bioactives. And it does this bringing material revenues from a fast growing product range, an attractive pipeline, and the commercial and R&D capabilities upon which we can build. The combination creates a truly unique wound care business – having leadership positions across exudate and infection management, negative pressure and bioactives to offer to our customers.”