care founded 1999 headquarters solothurn switzerland corporate west chester pennsylvania united states operational key people hansj rg wyss chairman michel orsinger president and ceo products physical trauma spine craniofacial mandible and chest implants medical power tools biomaterials revenue us 3.687 billion 2010 1 operating income us 1.283 billion 2010 1 profit us 907.7 million 2010 1 total assets us 7.924 billion end 2010 1 total equity us 6.739 billion end 2010 1 number of employees 11 430 end 2010 1 parent johnson & johnson website www.synthes.com synthes holding ag formerly synthes stratec is a multinational medical device manufacturer based in solothurn switzerland and west chester pennsylvania united states . it is the world s largest maker of implants to mend bone fractures 2 and also produces surgical power tools and advanced biomaterials . in june 2012 synthes was sold by its chairman former ceo and largest shareholder hansj rg wyss to johnson & johnson for 19.7 billion in cash and stock . 3 it is now part of their depuy franchise . contents 1 history 2 products 3 norian xr scandal 4 references 5 external links history edit synthes was originally established in 1960 as a trademark of the non profit institute arbeitsgemeinschaft f r osteosynthesefragen english association for the study of internal fixation ao asif 4 the synthes trademark was applied to internal fixation implants produced under license by its industrial partners straumann group and mathys medizinaltechnik . 5 in 1975 synthes usa a firm founded by harvard graduate hansj rg wyss became the third company to form an alliance with ao asif . throughout the decade straumann and mathys expanded their coverage around the rest of the world . 6 in 1990 straumann spun off its implant business into a separate privately owned company stratec medical . 7 stratec partially listed its shares on the swx swiss exchange through an initial public offering six years later while synthes usa and mathys remained in private hands . 8 three years later however stratec and synthes usa merged to form a new publicly traded company named synthes stratec . after the merger hansj rg wyss became and remained until the sale to johnson & johnson the majority shareholder of the enlarged company . 9 the third of the original ao asif partner companies mathys sold its osteosynthesis department to synthes stratec in 2004 10 although the firm s german division was divested to satisfy competition authorities . 11 the company subsequently dropped the stratec suffix to become simply synthes . the company s shares were added to the benchmark swiss market index for the first time in september 2004 . 12 in 2006 the company acquired the rights to the synthes brand name and most of the related intellectual property including patents from the ao asif foundation for around chf1 billion . 13 ao also acquired a stake in synthes . the two organisations continue to collaborate on relevant issues . in october 2010 synthes and its subsidiary norian both plead guilty to crimes relating to illegally implanting bone cement without fda approval . norian will admit to a felony charge of conspiracy to impede fda functions and pay a 23 million fine . synthes will then divest norian . 14 in november 2010 synthes acquired usa based privately owned surgical tools maker the anspach effort inc ; the purchase price was not disclosed . 15 on april 27 2011 synthes and johnson and johnson depuy agreed to a merger deal . the merger created the world s largest orthopedic corporation . 16 on june 13 2012 johnson & johnson announced the acquisition of synthes for 19.7 billion . 17 the merger led to jobs losses for some subsidiary groups . in italy the headquarters were moved from milan to rome . products edit the company s product offering spans six divisions of which four produce implants and related instruments for the treatment of physical trauma spinal injuries and cmf craniomaxillofacial trauma as well as for osteotomy in animals such as horses and dogs . synthes other business segments are the production of surgical power tools and biomaterials used to fill bone defects . norian xr scandal edit in 2009 the u.s. attorney in philadelphia accused the company of illegally promoting a bone void filler for unapproved uses running unauthorized clinical trials and failing to properly report deaths and adverse events related to the product . 18 between 2002 and 2004 synthes attempted to promote new uses for a product called norian xr a calcium phosphate bone void filler mixed with barium sulfate . the food and drug administration explicitly told synthes not to promote norian for certain spine surgeries but the company pushed forward anyway . at least five patients who had norian injected into their spines died on the operating room table . 19 in 2009 synthes announced a settlement with the state of new jersey over concerns that clinical investigators did not disclose their financial interests . in november 2009 synthes pleaded guilty to allegations of shipping adulterated and misbranded products as part of unlawful clinical trials . 20 the indictment charges synthes inc. with a total of 52 felony counts conspiracy to impair and impede the lawful functions of the fda and to commit crimes against the us ; 7 counts of making false statements in connection with an fda inspection ; and 44 counts of shipping adulterated and misbranded norian xr in interstate commerce with intent to defraud . the parent company synthes was charged with 44 misdemeanor counts of shipping adulterated and misbranded norian xr in interstate commerce and the four executives michael d. huggins thomas b. higgins richard e. bohner and john j. walsh were each charged with one strict liability misdemeanor offense . synthes inc. acquired n spine inc. in 2007 . 19 from may 2002 until fall 2004 norian conspired with others including synthes and the four named executives to conduct unauthorized clinical trials of synthes s medical devices norian xr and norian srs in surgeries to treat vertebral compression fractures of the spine vcfs a painful condition commonly suffered by elderly individuals . 19 these surgeries were allegedly performed despite a warning on the fda cleared label for norian xr against this use and in the face of serious medical concerns about the safety of the devices when used in the spine . according to the indictment before the marketing program began pilot studies showed the company that the bone cement reacted chemically with human blood in a test tube to cause blood clots . the research also showed in a pig that leakage of small amounts of norian xr from the spine into the blood caused clots which become lodged in the lungs . notwithstanding this knowledge the company allegedly proceeded to market the product for vcfs without putting it through fda required testing . the company it is alleged did not stop marketing the product until after a third patient had died on the operating table . 19 21 in late 2011 all four executives received prison sentences ranging from five to nine months . 19 22 references edit a b c d e f annual report 2010 pdf . synthes . retrieved 16 february 2011 . lundgren kari ; haigh adam 21 february 2008 . bae systems bp reed elsevier u.k. irish equity preview . bloomberg . retrieved 2008 06 10 . forebs profile hansjoerg wyss t. schlich 2002 surgery science and industry . a revolution in fracture care 1950s 1990s houndsmills basingstoke palgrave company history 1958 1960 . synthes . retrieved 2008 06 17 . company history 1970 1984 . synthes . retrieved 2008 06 17 . cohen m.l. 2006 . straumann holding ag . international directory of company histories . the gale group . retrieved 2008 08 11 . company history 1990 1996 . synthes . retrieved 2008 08 11 . egenter sven 28 february 2008 . synthes 2007 net profit up 20 pct beats forecasts . reuters . retrieved 2008 08 11 . bulkeley andrew 11 february 2004 . regulators halt synthes stratec buy in germany . the deal . retrieved 2008 08 11 . bulkeley andrew 30 march 2004 . germany blocks synthes buy . the deal . retrieved 2008 08 11 . synthes neu im smi vertreten . neue z rcher zeitung in german . 30 september 2004 . retrieved 2008 06 17 . synthes to acquire all ao foundation intellectual property for 1 bln sfr . afx news . forbes . 15 march 2008 . retrieved 2008 08 11 . dead link dale maryclaire 2010 10 04 . pa . firm to pay 23m for illegal bone cement tests . yahoo news associated press . retrieved 2010 10 05 . synthes acquires u.s. surgical tools maker anspach . reuters . 2010 11 08 . retrieved 8 november 2010 . http www.synthes.com html news details.8013.0.html & tx synthesnewsbyxml pi1 showuid 65 johnson & johnson 19.7 billion acquisition of synthes transactions to increase corporate profits . june 13 2012 . criminal indictment a b c d e kimes mina september 18 2012 . bad to the bone a medical horror story . fortune . looking for a band aid . the economist . 2011 04 20 . http www.mmm online.com synthes executives indicted article 138653 loftus peter december 14 2011 . fourth ex synthes officer sentenced . the wall street journal . dow jones & company . retrieved march 18 2012 . external links edit official website companies portal v t e swiss market index companies of switzerland abb actelion adecco credit suisse geberit givaudan holcim julius b r nestl novartis richemont roche sgs swatch group swiss re swiss life swisscom syngenta ubs zurich financial retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title synthes & oldid 714802928 categories companies established in 1999health care companies of switzerlandmanufacturing companies of switzerlandhidden categories cs1 german language sources de all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from june 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschfran aisitaliano edit links this page was last modified on 11 april 2016 at 23 03 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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