News & Events

Franklin Lakes, NJ (May 19, 1997) -- Becton Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX), a global medical technology corporation, and PharMingen, a leading manufacturer of products for biomedical research, announced today that they have received government approvals for their previously announced acquisition.

Becton Dickinson said that the acquisition would broaden and enhance its flow cytometry business, Becton Dickinson Immunocytometry Systems (BDIS), which is headquartered in San Jose, California.

"Through this acquisition of PharMingen, we believe we can help our customers diagnose and monitor immunological diseases and study the complex characteristics of cancer more efficiently," said Deborah J. Neff, president of BDIS.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, PharMingen develops, manufactures and sells high-quality antibodies and reagents for immunology, cell biology, and molecular biology research. Through aggressive internal product development programs and technology licensing efforts, PharMingen has introduced more than 2,500 products in the 10 years since the company was founded. Sales for the company's fiscal year ending June 30, 1997 are expected to be about $30 million.

"We look forward to this opportunity to strengthen our customer relationships and offer a broader array of cell analysis products for researchers and clinicians," said Ernest Chun-Ming Huang, founder and president of PharMingen.

Becton Dickinson and Company manufactures and sells a broad range of medical supplies and devices and diagnostic systems for use by health care professionals, medical research institutions and the general public. Included in the company's diagnostic product line are sophisticated flow cytometry systems and a wide range of reagents that allows users to analyze, isolate and characterize immune cells from blood and tissue. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 1996, Becton Dickinson had total revenues of $2.8 billion and net income of $283 million.