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The Beginnning
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Maxwell W. Becton and Fairleigh S. Dickinson met on a sales trip in 1897. Months later, they decided to go into business together, sealing their partnership with a handshake. They named their medical device import company Becton, Dickinson and Company. |
  | The First Patent For $40.00, BD acquired a half interest in the patent rights to an all-glass syringe developed by H. Wulfing Luer of Paris, France. |
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First Acquisition Acquiring the Philadelphia Surgical Company enabled BD to manufacture its own metal surgical instruments. This and other early acquisitions expanded the company's offering of quality products and gained the talents and manufacturing expertise of new people. |
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Made in America
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Oscar O. R. Schwidetzky merged his Surgical Supply Import Company with BD, bringing with him the ASEPTO bulb syringe and helping to develop the American-made ACE® bandage, a brand name for "All Cotton Elastic". |
 | First Insulin Syringe BD manufactured its first syringe made specifically for insulin injection. This development served as the beginning of our history in diabetes care. |
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Innovative Selling Hired to stimulate sagging sales, Ed T.T. Williams revolutionized sales techniques, and expanded the company's customer base. He later served as Chairman of the Board from 1965-1967. |
 | Innovative Selling Joseph Kleiner, hired by BD for his MULTIFIT® syringe with interchangeable parts, also brought with him a concept called the Evacutainer -- a device to draw blood by vacuum through a needle into a test tube. The product, patented in 1949, evolved to become the VACUTAINER® Brand blood collection system. |
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Wesley J. Howe Wesley J. "Jack" Howe joined the company and played a key role in developing sterility control labs and refining the process for manufacturing disposable needles and syringes. Howe ultimately became Chairman, President and CEO in 1980. |
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First Sterile Disposable Product
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The company's first sterile disposable blood collection set was developed and sold to the American Red Cross. Efforts to develop a niche in the disposables market continued through the '50s and into the early '60s. BD was the only syringe manufacturer of its day to survive the transition. |
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Mexico MAPAD s.a. de c.v. in Mexico City was acquired to produce syringes, needles, and clinical thermometers for the Mexican market. |
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Microbiology The acquisition of Baltimore Biological Laboratories provided a crucial impetus for BD to lead two fundamental changes in healthcare: the conversion to sterile disposables and the emergence of diagnostic medicine. |
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Brazil BD entered the Brazilian syringe market and is now the largest medical supply company in the country with two modern plants and headquarters in São Paulo. |
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A Public Company
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To raise the huge amounts of capital required to introduce sterile disposable products, BD and Company became a publicly held corporation offering its stock at $25 a share. Sales were $54 million and net income $3 million. |
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First FACS System Through licensing arrangements with Stanford University, BD manufactured its first FACS instrument, pioneering the company's involvement in cytology. Today BD is the market leader in flow cytometry, an innovative proprietary technology for cellular analysis. |
 | HYPAK Prefilled Syringes A new patent was issued to Claude Imbert, BD Pharmaceutical Systems – Europe, for a prefilled syringe for injecting heparin, a blood thinner. |
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Independence An unfriendly takeover attempt by a large oil company was successfully thwarted when the courts found that the transaction violated the law. BD continued to maintain its independence on behalf of shareholders and employees. |
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England A new plant was constructed in Plymouth, England to manufacture VACUTAINER products and to serve growing European markets. |
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Move to Franklin Lakes
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Vascular Access The acquisition of Deseret Medical was made to build a leadership position in peripheral vascular access devices on a base of proprietary technology. |
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BD in Asia Construction began for a new manufacturing facility in Singapore, coming on-line in 1989. In Fukushima, Japan, the company built a new plant to manufacture diagnostic products. |
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Clateo Castellini Clateo Castellini, who joined the company in 1978 and worked overseas for several years, was named Chairman, President and CEO. The company's revenues that year were $2.6 billion with nearly half coming from operations outside the U.S. |
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Toward Our Second Century
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In 1997, BD celebrated its first 100 years -- reflecting on past accomplishments and focusing on new opportunities on the horizon. |
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BD acquires Clontech Laboratories, an important provider of molecular and cellular biology reagents to the life sciences market. BD also acquires Biometric Imaging, Inc., manufacturer of a cell-analysis system, and Transduction Laboratories, which focuses on rea~gents for cell biology research. Go to press release (Clontech) Go to press release (Biometric Imaging) |
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Healthcare Worker Safety
BD launches the BD Safety Compliance Initiative, a nationwide education program to raise awareness about the risk of accidental needlesticks and to help healthcare institutions comply with Federal mandates for safety-engineered devices. BD Safety Compliance Initiative |
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Trusted Partners Campaign BD embarks upon a global communications campaign highlighting its 100-year history of "helping all people live healthy lives." |
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BD introduces two products to help improve diabetes management BD introduces two products to help improve diabetes management—the BD Logic® Blood Glucose Monitor and the BD Latitude® Diabetes Management System. |
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BD acquires Atto Bioscience BD acquires Atto Bioscience, a Maryland-based company that specializes in optical instrumentation, software, and reagents for real-time analysis of interactions taking place in living cells. Go to press release |
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On October 8, Becton made what is believed to be the company's first sale — a Luer all-glass syringe that sold for $2.50. |
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The first logo and its relationship to quality. |
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The company incorporated in the State of New Jersey and created a manufacturing facility, in East Rutherford, the first in the U.S. built specifically for producing thermometers, hypodermic needles and syringes. |
 | Andrew W. "Doc" Fleischer, developer of the mercurial sphygmomanometer to measure blood pressure, merged his company with BD, then spent his career developing and refining medical instruments, including the modern stethoscope. |
 | Fairleigh S. Dickinson was issued a patent for the LUER-LOK® tip, an innovation that securely attached the hypodermic needle to the syringe. Forty years later, the technology was adapted for sterile disposable needles and syringes. |
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WWII years — HB is drafted. |
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Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr., President, and Henry P. Becton, Vice President, sons of the founders, took over company leadership. During their 24-year tenure, BD expanded worldwide, made the successful transition to sterile disposable products, and became a public company. |
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Columbus, Nebraska became the first manufacturing site established outside of New Jersey. |
 | BD acquired the Norman S. Wright Company, its Canadian distributor in Toronto. The formation of BD Canada, Ltd. marked the beginning of international expansion. |
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Expanding to France, the company began using AMI to manufacture steel tubes for hypodermic needles. Three years later, AMI was acquired and BD France, S.A. emerged. Twenty years later, BD opened its European headquarters in Meylan. |
 | The PLASTIPAK Brand disposable plastic syringe was introduced and manufactured in Canaan, Connecticut. |
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For the first time, FORTUNE magazine listed BD as one of the 500 largest American companies. |
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 | Raymond V. Gilmartin joined the company, bringing his talent for strategic planning. He became Chairman, President and CEO in 1992, departing BD in 1994 to head Merck & Co. |
| Sales surpassed the $1 billion milestone. Nine years later, sales exceeded $2 billion. |
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BD purchased Fabersanitas Industrial, a syringe manufacturer in Fraga, Spain. |
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 | A joint venture was established in China to produce medical products for Chinese and other markets. In India a subsidiary was formed to manufacture insulin syringes and to market other medical and diagnostic products. |
 | We are excited to build on our 100 year foundation of quality, reliability and commitment to our customers and business partners around the world. With our new identity we are renewing our promise to simplify how we do business with you while improving the health and well-being of all people.  View PDF Go to press release |
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Edward J. Ludwig is named President of BD. In January, 2000 he also becomes Chief Executive Officer. Go to press release |
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BD announces a five-year partnership with UNICEF and the US Fund for UNICEF to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus worldwide. Go to press release |
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BD Acquires Gentest Corporation BD acquires Gentest Corporation, a leader in drug metabolism and toxicology testing of drugs under development. |
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BD Pledges $1 Million for AIDS Vaccine BD pledges $1 million to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). This public-private partnership will help ensure that promising candidates for a vaccine to prevent AIDS advance rapidly through human testing and that developing countries have the supplies and training needed to conduct their own vaccine trials. |
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BD introduces the new BD.id™ Patient Identification System BD introduces the new BD.id™ Patient Identification System, designed to limit the potential for medical errors in specimen collection. |
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BD Diagnostics enters the emerging field of proteomics BD Diagnostics enters the emerging field of proteomics through its acquisition of the technology and other assets of the FFE Weber GmbH business, which specializes in the separation and fractionation of complex proteins. Go to press release |