Smith & Nephew is acquiring Healthpoint Biotherapeutics for $782 million in cash in a move to expand beyond its core medical device business. Fort Worth, Texas-based Healthpoint is a privately held company focused on dermal repair and wound care therapies.

Its lead product Santyl is an ointment that dissolves dead tissue in chronic skin ulcers and burn wounds to make room for healthy tissue to grow. Healthpoint is also developing a novel cell therapy, HP802-247, that has just entered late-stage clinical trials as a treatment for venous leg ulcers.

One of Smith & Nephew’s five strategic priorities is supplementing its “organic growth through acquisitions, the company says. The U.K.-based medical device maker’s main business is in orthopedic replacement devices, a category that has seen slow growth. Meanwhile, its wound care division, focused on negative pressure wound therapy devices, has been growing even as overall sales for the company have slid. Healthpoint’s focus on drug therapies, rather than devices, is seen as complementary, expanding the range of addressable indications and doubling its business in the United States.

“The acquisition of Healthpoint is an important step for Smith & Nephew, and for our Advanced Wound Management division,” says Olivier Bohuon, CEO of Smith & Nephew. “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.”

Bioactive wound healing, where Healthpoint is focused, is the fastest growing segment of advanced wound care, with a market size of about $1 billion, according to Smith & Nephew. Bioactives offer novel treatments for a range of hard to heal wounds, including the large and increasing prevalence of diabetic foot ulcers.

Healthpoint is forecast to generate around $190 million sales in 2012. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2012.