Johnson & Johnson and Smith & Nephew Orthopedics Merger Talks Collapse Over Who Would Lead the Combined Company
LONDON — Talks between Johnson & Johnson and British medical-device maker Smith & Nephew to merge their orthopedics businesses collapsed at the last moment over who would lead the combined company, Reuters reported. Johnson & Johnson wanted Namal Nawana, the head of its orthopedics business and a former Smith & Nephew chief executive, to run it; Smith & Nephew insisted its current chief executive, Deepak Nath, should be in charge. Both companies declined to comment.
The deal would have combined Johnson & Johnson's DePuy Synthes hip and knee replacement business with Smith & Nephew's orthopedics lines into a separate listed company. Johnson & Johnson's unit has been valued at as much as $22 billion, while Smith & Nephew's market value is about £9.4 billion ($12.58 billion). Johnson & Johnson announced in October 2025 that it planned to spin off DePuy Synthes and had explored a valuation of around $20 billion for it.
Competition in orthopedics is intense, with Stryker, Zimmer Biomet and others expanding their hip and knee businesses. Analysts say governance and leadership arrangements have become a decisive variable in large medical-device deals. (GSM, based on Reuters reporting)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 膝关节假体植入术后X光片（资料图）。照片：Mikael Häggström，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Postoperative X-ray of an implanted knee prosthesis (file photo). Photo: Mikael Häggström, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
