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BD Collaborates With BARDA to Combat Coronavirus Crisis

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Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX - Free Report) , also popularly known as BD, recently formed a strategic, public-private partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The primary objective of this collaboration is to create new manufacturing lines for injection devices that will offer priority access to the U.S. government for hundreds of millions of syringes and needles to address the current and future pandemic vaccination efforts.

Notably, BD is the world’s largest manufacturer when it comes to injection devices and produces billions of syringes and needles with the help of its global manufacturing network.

This collaboration is likely to provide a boost to the company’s BD Medical segment.

Significance of the Partnership

BARDA will invest an estimated amount of $42 million into a $70 million capital project, as part of the partnership, to expand BD’s operations and manufacturing capacity in Nebraska further. The new capacity, anticipated to go online within 12 months, will give BARDA priority access to injection devices to help in mass vaccination efforts for COVID-19 and future pandemics, once completed.

Apart from this, the company has also finalized an initial pandemic order for 50 million needles and syringes (to be delivered by end of December 2020) to lend support to U.S. vaccination effort for COVID-19.



The aforementioned commitment marks BD’s latest effort in its all-round global response to the pandemic. Apart from strengthening its longstanding partnership with Nebraska, BD remains focused and optimistic about further bolstering its already solid presence and track record in the state.

Given BD’s manufacturing ability, it is important to note here that BD does not anticipate this initial order or future quantities to hamper its ability to fulfil existing customer requirements for needles and syringes, which include the annual flu vaccination and childhood immunization campaigns.

Recent Developments

Recently, BD received the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA for a rapid, point-of-care, SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test for use with its widely available BD Veritor Plus System. This marks the company’s third diagnostic test to receive EUA for the detection of COVID-19.

In April, BD, collaborated with BioMedomics to launch a new point-of-care test that can detect antibodies in blood to confirm current or past exposure to coronavirus within 15 minutes. This test is another addition to the long line of diagnostic tools for the coronavirus, which can be utilized in community health settings such as urgent care clinics, thereby limiting physical interaction between patients and healthcare workers.

Market Prospects

Per a report published in Grand View Research, the global needles market size was valued at $5.97 billion in 2017 and is anticipated to see a CAGR of 6.6% over the forecast period (2018-2025). Rising geriatric population and demand for vaccines are primarily driving this market.

Hence, this partnership is a well-timed one for BD.

Price Performance

Over the past year, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 1.7% against the industry’s decline of 13.6%.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space include Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (DGX - Free Report) , West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (WST - Free Report) and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LH - Free Report) . While Quest Diagnostics and Laboratory Corporation sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), West Pharmaceutical carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Quest Diagnostics has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 7.6%.

Laboratory Corporation has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 6.1%.

West Pharmaceutical has a projected long-term earnings growth rate of 9.2%.

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