US Patent Issued to Smith & Nephew, Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics, Smith & Nephew Asia Pacific on July 21 for "Surgical instrument for manipulating and passing suture" (Massachusetts, Rhode Island Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,685,527, issued on July 21, was assigned to Smith & Nephew Inc. (Memphis, Tenn.), Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics AG (Zug, Switzerland) and Smith & Nephew Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (Singapore).

"Surgical instrument for manipulating and passing suture" was invented by Timothy Young (Upton, Mass.), Marc J. Balboa (Hopkinton, Mass.), Kangqiao Li (Providence, R.I.), Justin A. Barbas (West Bridgewater, Mass.) and Alyssa Paul (Mansfield, Mass.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An instrument for manipulating and passing suture through a tissue is disclosed. The instrument includes a handle and a needle. The needle includes a lumen and terminates with a d...