News & Events

Franklin Lakes, NJ (June 20, 2001) -- BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE:BDX) congratulates GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) on receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market the first vaccine delivery system to incorporate the use of the BD SafetyGlide™ needle and comply with the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) newly revised bloodborne pathogens standard.

The BD SafetyGlide needle has a shield that, with a one-hand activation technique, covers the needle tip to help protect the healthcare practitioner administering the vaccine from an accidental needlestick. BD is the exclusive supplier of safety-engineered needles and prefillable syringes to GSK.

"We congratulate GlaxoSmithKline on this important step in providing a safety delivery system for their vaccines. BD is proud to be their partner in developing an innovative solution that can help protect healthcare workers from injury and infection and deliver the highest quality patient care," said Gerhard Mayer, Ph.D., director of Marketing and Business Development, BD Pharmaceutical Systems. "This unique delivery system is but one example of our commitment to providing healthcare workers with the best possible safety devices to prevent needlestick injuries."

The GSK Safety Tip-Lok™ system, prefilled Tip-Lok® syringes with the BD SafetyGlide™ needle, delivers pediatric doses of Havrix® (Hepatitis A Vaccine Inactivated) and Engerix-B® [Hepatitis B Vaccine (Recombinant)]. These pediatric vaccines are available in a prefilled syringe system that complies with Federal OSHA's revised standard designed to protect healthcare workers against accidental needlesticks. This revised standard went into effect on April 18, 2001, with an enforcement date of July 17, 2001.

BD pioneered the development of safety-engineered devices designed to help protect healthcare workers from accidental "sharps" injuries. The company introduced its first safety-engineered product in 1989 and has invested more than $500 million in safety-engineered product development, manufacturing and services. Today, BD offers the industry's broadest array of safety-engineered devices for injection, blood collection, infusion therapy, surgery and sharps disposal.

The new, easy-to-use vaccine delivery system was developed in the course of a long-term relationship on prefills and drug delivery systems between BD and GlaxoSmithKline that dates back to the 1980s. In pediatric doses, these vaccines can help protect children from infection with two of the most serious forms of hepatitis. Hepatitis A, a highly contagious liver infection, affects an estimated 180,000 Americans each year, with the highest incidence among children ages 5 to 14. Hepatitis B infects up to 100,000 Americans annually and can cause permanent liver damage, liver cancer and death.

"GlaxoSmithKline values our longstanding partnership with BD, a company with a heritage of high quality and innovation in drug delivery devices and the development of safety-engineered products," said John Jabara, vice president and director, US Vaccines, at GSK. "We are pleased to have been able to work with BD to develop and add the Safety Tip-Lok system to our safe and effective hepatitis A and B vaccines, Havrix and Engerix, and contribute to a safer work environment for our nation's dedicated healthcare practitioners."

BD Pharmaceutical Systems
BD Pharmaceutical Systems (BDPS), an operating unit of BD, is the industry leader in providing quality parenteral drug delivery systems for the pharmaceutical industry. BDPS collaborates with many companies in the pharmaceutical industry to develop innovative solutions to meet tomorrow's needs for healthcare providers and patients. Products include prefillable syringes, nasal drug delivery devices, IV infusion systems, dry drug reconstitution systems and self-injection devices.

BD is a medical technology company that manufactures and sells a broad range of supplies, devices and systems for use by healthcare professionals, medical research institutions and the general public. For more information about BD and its safety products and services, go to www.bd.com/safety or call 1-888-383-0118.

GlaxoSmithKline: A Leader in Vaccines
GlaxoSmithKline - one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies - is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. Web site address: www.gsk.com.