BD Receives Orders for 177 Million Injection Devices in Anticipation of COVID-19 Vaccine Approval

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) has received additional pandemic orders for needles and syringes totaling 177 million injection devices from the US and Canada as part of their COVID-19 vaccine preparations.

The new US order for 140 million injection devices brings total US 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 US, Canada and the UK. 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. Based on BD's manufacturing capability, the company does not expect these orders to impact its ability to fulfill existing customer requirements for needles and syringes, including the annual flu vaccination and childhood immunization campaigns.

BD is the largest manufacturer of injection devices in the world, producing billions of syringes and needles annually through its global manufacturing network. BD is expanding needle and syringe production at its facilities in Nebraska, USA 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 US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 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 US government for hundreds of millions of syringes and needles to support current and future pandemic vaccination efforts.

BD has also been working closely with the White House Coronavirus Task Force, the US Department of 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.

"Proactive actions taken by the US, Canada and the UK 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."