Becton, Dickinson & Company (BD) (NYSE: BDX), is an American medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD does business in nearly 50 countries and has 28,803 employees worldwide. In fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, 60% of BD sales were generated from non-U.S. markets.

BD was founded in 1897 by Maxwell W. Becton and Fairleigh S. Dickinson, two American businessmen who met on a sales trip. The same year the company made its first sale, a Luer-all-glass syringe that sold for $2.50. In 1898 BD acquired its first patent for a medical product. In 1899 the company introduced its first logo which was meant to symbolize guaranteed superior quality of the products provided by BD. In 1904 BD acquired the Philadelphia Surgical Company. This very first acquisition and other early acquisitions significantly expanded the company’s manufacturing ability and product offering. Two years later BD incorporated in the State of New Jersey and built a manufacturing facility in East Rutherford, the first in the U.S. created specifically for the production of thermometers, hypodermic needles, and syringes. In 1924 BD manufactured its first syringe designed specifically for insulin injection. One year later BD introduced the BD Yale Luer-Lok Syringe, designed and patented by Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Sr. It provided a simple and secure method of attaching and removing the needle to and from the syringe. Today, luer lock connectors are the standard for syringes in the U.S. In 1947 Joseph Kleiner developed the Evacutainer — a device used to draw blood by vacuum through a needle into a test tube. This product eventually evolved to become the BD Vacutainer Blood Collection system.

In 1948 BD faced new leadership as Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. and Henry P. Becton, sons of the founders, took over the company. Their 24-year tenure was a time of rapid development for BD. The company grew within the U.S. as well as internationally. In 1949 it opened its first manufacturing site outside of New Jersey in Columbus, Nebraska. In 1961 it established a manufacturing facility in Canaan, Connecticut. BD also soon expanded to Canada (1951), Mexico (1952), France (1955), and Brazil (1956). The tenure of Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. and Henry P. Becton was also a time of significant product innovation. In 1950 BD's first sterile disposable product, a blood collection set, was developed and sold to the American Red Cross. In 1954 BD introduced the first completely disposable syringe made of glass: BD Hypak. This innovative product was used in a large-scale field test of the polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk. One year later, BD entered the microbiology field through the acquisition of the Baltimore Biological Laboratory. In 1961 the company introduced its disposable BD Plastipak syringe. Under the new leadership the company also went public (1962) and was appeared for the first time in the Fortune 500 list (1970).

In 1973 BD added another U.S. facility —a research center in Durham, North Carolina in Research Triangle Park. The center was established to help the company meet United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements, research improved manufacturing and process methods, and develop future innovative technologies. In 1975 BD Pharmaceutical Systems Europe acquired an important patent for a prefilled syringe injecting heparin. In 1980 BD developed its first automated system for mycobacteria testing, the BD BACTEC 460TB System. The next year brought significant signs of the company’s development as sales surpassed the $1 billion milestone and a new plant in Plymouth, England was constructed to serve the European markets. Five years later BD moved its corporate headquarters to Franklin Lakes, New Jersey (current HQ location.) Also in 1986, BD acquired Fabersanitas Industrial, a major Spanish syringe manufacturer as well as Deseret Medical, a vascular access devices manufacturer. The last three years of the 1980s also showed growth in Asia (manufacturing facilities in Singapore and Japan.) Furthermore, BD became the first company to introduce a safety-engineered syringe — BD Safety-Lok (1988) and acquired the Beaver Blade Company, a manufacturer of high-quality surgical blades. The first half of the next decade was very important to BD’s development. The company opened a central distribution center in Temse, Belgium (1992) and entered India and China (1995.) BD also introduced a device that offered needle stick protection following blood-drawing procedures — BD Vacutainer Safety-Lok Blood Collection Set.

In 1999, as BD passed more than 100 years of presence in the medical devices industry, BD announced its new corporate identity. Numerous independent brand names were replaced by a single name: BD. In addition, the company symbol that is used today was introduced. BD also named Edward J. Ludwig as the company’s president. Ludwig was also named Chief Executive Officer (2000) and Chairman of the Board of Directors (2002.) During that time BD also got heavily involved in global health issues announcing a five-year maternal and neonatal tetanus world-wide elimination partnership with UNICEF (1999), launching the BD Safety Compliance Initiative (2000), and pledging $1 million contribution to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (2002.) In 2003 and 2004 BD introduced several innovative products: BD FACSAria Cell Sorterthe — first entirely new instrument in the next-generation portfolio of flow cytometers (2003), BD Accuspray — a nasal drug delivery system for administering vaccines (2003), BD.id — a patient identification system designed to limit the potential for medical errors in specimen collection (2003), and the world's first "intelligent" insulin pump and glucose monitoring system, a wireless system consisting of a Medtronic MiniMed Paradigm 512 Insulin Pump and Paradigm Link Blood Glucose Monitor, co-developed with BD. In the beginning of the 21st century BD also invested in growing its business by acquiring several strategically important companies. In 2001 it acquired the Gentest Corporation, a leading in drug metabolism and toxicology testing company. In 2004 BD completed the acquisition of Atto Bioscience Acquired, a company specializing in optical instrumentation, software, and reagents for real-time analysis of interactions taking place in living cells. In 2005 BD entered the field of proteomics through its acquisition of FFE Weber GmbH, which specialized in the separation and fractionation of complex proteins. 2006 was also important to BD growth as the company acquired GeneOhm Sciences — a leader in the development of molecular diagnostic testing for the rapid detection of bacterial organisms and TriPath Imaging —a cancer diagnostics company.

‹ Prev Next › ‹ All Companies ›