BD Collaborates with U.S. Government on Development of COVID-19 Combination Diagnostic Tests

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., Oct. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced the formation of a strategic, public-private partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response to support the development of a range of COVID-19 combination diagnostic tests for core laboratories, hospitals and at the point of care. 

As part of the collaboration, BARDA will award BD an initial $24.7 million under contract number 75A50121C00025 with options to extend to $40.3 million for development and FDA 510(k) clearance of five new combination tests including:

• A BD Veritor™ Plus System Respiratory Panel – A rapid, antigen test that detects and distinguishes between SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A and Influenza B at the point-of-care;
• A BD MAX™ System Respiratory Panel – A molecular PCR test that detects and distinguishes between SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A, Influenza B and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for hospital or other moderate-throughput labs; 
• A BD MAX™ System Respiratory Panel plus Pan-Coronavirus – A molecular PCR test to detect and distinguish between SARS-CoV-1, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), seasonal coronaviruses, and novel or emerging coronaviruses in order to address future outbreaks in hospital or other moderate-throughput labs; 
• A BD COR™ System Respiratory Panel - A molecular PCR test that detects and distinguishes between SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A, Influenza B and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for core, reference or other high-throughput labs; and
• A BD COR™ System Respiratory Panel plus Pan-Coronavirus - A molecular PCR test to detect and distinguish between SARS-CoV-1, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), seasonal coronaviruses and novel or emerging coronaviruses in order to address future outbreaks in core, reference or other high-throughput labs.

Covering testing in point-of-care, acute-care and high-throughput laboratory settings, these diagnostic tests aim to provide the ability to screen for multiple pathogens in a single sample taken from a person with the signs and symptoms of a respiratory illness. By determining the causative virus, these tests would aid health care providers in making more informed decisions about treating patients, the management of health care resources and provide information on epidemiologic trends or new emerging viruses. These tests would also enable decisions on whether a person with COVID-19, influenza or another respiratory illness should be admitted to a hospital, receive treatments as an outpatient or simply be sent home to recuperate.  

In addition to providing the capability to better manage patient health and health care resources, the addition of Pan-Coronavirus tests on the BD MAX™ and BD COR™ Systems would also provide the capability to detect novel or emerging coronaviruses. The development and clearance of BD MAX™ System and BD COR™ System tests with and without Pan-Coronavirus provides health care providers with options that best suit their patients, helping to enable the right care. 

"We know that COVID-19 will be with us for a long time, and we share BARDA's desire to help ensure the U.S. health care system is ready to diagnose and ultimately treat known and emerging respiratory viruses," said Dave Hickey, president of Life Sciences for BD. "This collaboration will allow us to develop a comprehensive suite of FDA-cleared tests for use at all levels of the U.S. health care system to detect COVID-19, other respiratory pathogens and emerging coronaviruses in order to inform appropriate patient response and management."

While BD has a COVID-19 and Influenza A+B combination test available under FDA emergency use authorization on both the BD MAX™ System and the BD Veritor™ Plus System, the collaboration with BARDA is designed to achieve full 510(k) clearance of the BD Veritor™ SARS-CoV-2 and Flu A+B — as well as develop new combination tests on other BD diagnostic platforms — to help ensure availability and access to critical diagnostic tests even after the COVID-19 pandemic emergency is declared to be over.

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 70,000 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 or connect with us on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/bd1 and Twitter @BDandCo.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements regarding the development of a range of COVID-19 combination diagnostic tests. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements, including, without limitation, challenges inherent in product development and risks relating to regulatory compliance of any test that may be developed, disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic and other factors listed in our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the SEC. BD expressly disclaims any undertaking to update any forward-looking statements set forth herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by applicable laws or regulations.

SOURCE BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)