 In June 2012 Synthes was sold by its chairman, former CEO and largest shareholder Hansjörg Wyss to Johnson & Johnson for $20.2 billion.It is now part of their DePuy franchise.Synthes was originally established in 1960 as a trademark of the non-profit institute Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragen (, AO/ASIF),

The Synthes trademark was applied to internal fixation implants produced under license by its industrial partners, Straumann Group and Mathys Medizinaltechnik.