BD History

BD was founded in 1897 by Maxwell W. Becton and Fairleigh S. Dickinson, two American businessmen who met on a sales trip.

In 1898, BD acquired its first patent for a medical product.

1904: Philadelphia Surgical Company and Wigmore Company are acquired.

1913: Surgical Supply Import Company is acquired.

1917: Sales reach $1 million.

Such was the case with the 1921 purchase of Physicians Specialty Company, which was headed by Andrew W. 'Doc' Fleischer, who like Schwidetzky took a position with Becton, Dickinson following the merger.

In 1924, BD manufactured its first syringe designed specifically for insulin injection.

1925: Fairleigh Dickinson receives a patent for the Luer-Lok tip.

Today, luer lock connectors are the standard for syringes in the United States In 1947 Joseph Kleiner developed the Evacutainer — a device used to draw blood by vacuum through a needle into a test tube.

In 1948, BD faced new leadership as Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. and Henry P. Becton, sons of the founders, took over the company.

In 1949, it opened its first manufacturing site outside of New Jersey in Columbus, Nebraska.

In 1950, BD’s first sterile disposable product, a blood collection set, was developed and sold to the American Red Cross.

The first such move came in 1951 with the acquisition of the company's Canadian distributor to create Becton Dickinson Canada, Ltd., its first wholly owned subsidiary and foreign operation.

In 1954, BD introduced the first completely disposable syringe made of glass: BD Hypak.

The Brazilian market was next on the expansion list and Becton, Dickinson began supplying syringes in that country in 1956 and eventually became the number one medical supply company there.

In 1961, it established a manufacturing facility in Canaan, Connecticut.

The company's need for massive amounts of funding to pay for the conversion from reusable products to sterile disposable products led to a 1962 initial public offering of stock at $25 per share.

In 1963 Becton, Dickinson constructed a disposable syringe plant in Drogheda, Ireland.

By 1964, more than 8,000 products were being manufactured by Becton, Dickinson, including a broad line of medical supplies of superior diagnostic accuracy.

By 1966 the company's rapid rate of growth had landed it on the Fortune 500 list for the first time.

In 1973, BD added another United States facility —a research center in Durham, North Carolina in Research Triangle Park.

1974: Wesley J. Howe is named president and CEO.

In 1975, BD Pharmaceutical Systems Europe acquired an important patent for a prefilled syringe injecting heparin.

Gilmartin had joined Becton, Dickinson in 1976 as vice-president of corporate planning.

1978: Sun Oil Company acquires a 34 percent stake in the company.

1979: Becton, Dickinson and Sun reach agreement on the eventual disposal of Sun's stake.

In 1980, BD developed its first automated system for mycobacteria testing — the BD BACTEC 460TB System.

Five years later BD moved its corporate headquarters to Franklin Lakes, New Jersey (current HQ location.) Also in 1986, BD acquired Fabersanitas Industrial, a major Spanish syringe manufacturer as well as Deseret Medical, a vascular access devices manufacturer.

1989: Raymond V. Gilmartin is named CEO.

Becton, Dickinson's investment of 5.6 percent of its 1993 revenues represented a continuing accent on new product introductions.

1994: Clateo Castellini is named chairman, CEO, and president.

In 1995 the company entered into a joint venture in China to produce medical products for the Chinese and other markets.

1997: PharMingen Inc. and Difco Laboratories Incorporated are acquired.

1998: The Medical Devices Division of the BOC Group is acquired.

In 1999, as BD passed more than 100 years of presence in the medical devices industry, BD announced its new corporate identity.

On December 20, 2000, BD signed an agreement to acquire Gentest Corporation, a privately held company serving the life sciences market in the areas of drug metabolism and toxicology testing of pharmaceutical candidates.

In 2001, it acquired the Gentest Corporation, a leading in drug metabolism and toxicology testing company.

In 2004, BD completed the acquisition of Atto Bioscience Acquired, a company specializing in optical instrumentation, software, and reagents for real-time analysis of interactions taking place in living cells.

In 2005, Becton Dickinson entered the field of proteomics through its acquisition of FFE Weber GmbH, which specialized in the separation and fractionation of complex proteins.