Becton Dickinson looks at opportunities in biosciences, nanotech, AIDS monitoring and immunization for growth

Becton Dickinson (BD) is a US-based company that manufactures and sells a broad range of medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipments and diagnostic products used by healthcare institutions, life sciences researchers, clinical laboratories and industry. BD operates in India through a wholly-owned subsidiary, BD India. BD is focused on improving drug therapy, enhancing the speed of diagnosing infectious diseases, and advancing research and discovery of new drugs and vaccines.

According to BioSpectrum estimation, the revenue of the company for the fiscal year 2009-10 excluding the diagnostics is Rs 180 crore. The company is a leader in the flow cytometry segment commanding almost 85 percent of the market share in India.

In August 2009, BD launched the BD Kaleidoscope reagent and dye expansion program-marked by the initial release of nearly 200 new fluorochrome-conjugated antibodies for flow cytometry to help meet today's life sciences research needs. The company has also made innovative changes in FACSAria II, used for studies on stem cell therapy and sorting, by adding 375 lasers to it and making it more cost-effective. BD is also looking at new areas for the application of Influx, a product that was added to the company's portfolio through its acquisition of Cytopia in 2008.

BD's product range primarily finds application in experimental stem cell therapy, a new concept in the field of stem cell research, but can also be used in nanobiotech, marine biotech and sterile experimental stem cell therapy. CD4 percentage, a unique product for AIDS monitoring launched last year does both the CD4 count and percentage in a single run. Path way 855, another product, was launched last year for high content cell imaging experiments.

In 2008, BD bagged a major tender for 60 instruments from Government of India for AIDS monitoring. The company has also strongly emphasized on education in the field of flow cytometry through its center of excellence for flow cytometry set up in collaboration with the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore. BD focuses on biosciences, nanotech, and AIDS monitoring and immunization for capitalizing the new opportunities.