BD Receives Additional Orders For 177 Million Injection Devices For U.S., Canada COVID-19 Vaccine Preparations

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., July 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced additional pandemic orders for needles and syringes from the United States and Canada totaling 177 million injection devices.

The new U.S. order for 140 million injection devices brings total U.S. orders from BD to 190 million devices. The new Canadian order for 37 million brings total Canadian orders from BD to 75 million devices. Across the world, BD has received total orders of 330 million needles and syringes from the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. A majority of these orders will be delivered by the end of December 2020 in anticipation of a vaccine being approved late this year or early 2021. BD continues to be in discussions with governments around the world on the need to place orders immediately for early 2021 delivery.

Importantly, based on BD's manufacturing capability, the company does not expect these orders will impact BD's ability to fulfill existing customer requirements for needles and syringes, including the annual flu vaccination and childhood immunization campaigns.

"Proactive actions taken by the U.S., Canada and the U.K. to order injection devices now will help these countries be ready to administer a vaccine when one is approved and ready," said Rick Byrd, president of Medication Delivery Solutions for BD. "BD's commitment to manufacture hundreds of millions of needles and syringes for the global COVID-19 response reinforces the company's dedication to helping the health care community control and defeat this virus."  

In addition, on July 8, BD announced a $70 million investment to expand needle and syringe production at its facilities in Nebraska as part of a strategic, public-private partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Health and Human Services, and the Department of Defense's Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND),  to develop new manufacturing lines for  injection devices that will provide priority access to the U.S. government for hundreds of millions of syringes and needles to support current and future pandemic vaccination efforts.

As part of the partnership, BARDA collaborated with JPEO-CBRND to invest an estimated $42 million into a $70 million capital project to further expand BD's operations and manufacturing capacity in Nebraska, where the company has manufactured medical devices for nearly 70 years. The new capacity is expected to be online within 12 months and once completed, the federal government will have priority access to injection devices from these new manufacturing lines to support vaccination efforts for COVID-19 and future pandemics. Learn more about how BD is preparing for global COVID-19 vaccination preparations on the BD blog.

BD is the largest manufacturer of injection devices in the world, producing billions of syringes and needles annually through its global manufacturing network. In addition to ramping up manufacturing of needles and syringes, BD has been working closely with the White House Coronavirus Task Force, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies to expand access to diagnostic testing and support treatment of COVID-19 patients. Through June, the company has supplied health care providers globally with approximately 48 million swabs for flu and COVID-19 testing, more than 2.85 million COVID-19 rapid molecular diagnostic tests on the BD MAX™ System and millions of products used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, including infusion pumps, infusion sets and catheters. BD Biosciences instruments are also being used by researchers around the world to better understand the human immune response to COVID-19.

About BD
BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. The company supports the heroes on the frontlines of health care by developing innovative technology, services and solutions that help advance both clinical therapy for patients and clinical process for health care providers. BD and its 65,000 employees have a passion and commitment to help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians' care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to accurately detect disease and advance researchers' capabilities to develop the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. By working in close collaboration with customers, BD can help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care. For more information on BD, please visit bd.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements regarding BD's manufacturing operations. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements, many of which are beyond the company's control. BD expressly disclaims any undertaking to update any such statements set forth herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by applicable laws or regulations.

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SOURCE BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)