Smithfield Foods division makes new medical device

Smithfield Foods Inc.’s Cincinnati-based porcine-derived medical products unit, Smithfield BioScience, and Atlanta-based medical device company BioCircuit Technologies announced Wednesday that the two will produce a medical device for nerve repair after traumatic injuries.

The device, called Nerve Tape, will allow nerve repair without stitches. It is an implantable device made from pig small intestinal submucosa, a tissue layer within the organ, embedded with micro hooks for tissue attachment. The tape can be wrapped around two ends of a severed nerve to form a connection to promote regeneration.

Nerve Tape will be prepared from tissue harvested by Smithfield in the United States.

“Our work with BioCircuit demonstrates our expanding portfolio and the value we are creating in a variety of markets through Smithfield’s vertically integrated supply chain and manufacturing expertise,” Smithfield BioScience President Courtney Stanton said in a statement. “By harvesting porcine bioproducts for medical applications, we have the ability to improve lives through the development of innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices like this one.”

Created in 2017, Smithfield BioScience provides porcine-derived products to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries that are traceable to their farms of origin. The division also manufactures heparin, a blood thinner.

Based in Smithfield, pork processor and hog producer Smithfield Foods was founded in 1936 and employs more than 60,000 globally.