Palo Alto, Calif. – September 24, 2003 – Frost & Sullivan today announced BD as recipient of the 2003 Market Leadership Award for achieving a leadership position in several medical safety device categories. BD has a long history in safety-engineered devices and its businesses have undergone major product re-designs over the past 20 years to continually reflect safety issues and concerns in the healthcare arena.

Frost & Sullivan’s Market Leadership Award is presented each year to the company that exhibits expertise in identifying market challenges, drivers, and restraints, as well as developing market engineering strategies and methods for addressing these dynamics.

BD has demonstrated tremendous market astuteness by introducing an array of new safety-engineered devices, which is one of the main driving forces behind the company’s success. In 2002, BD achieved leadership positions in numerous categories such as needles and syringes, safety IV catheters, safety scalpels, and safety lancets.

In its quest to maintain market leadership, BD has expanded its safety portfolio by launching the BD Vacutainer™ Push Button Blood Collection Set in June 2003. The new product has an innovative design in which the needle retracts into the device with a simple push of a button.

The company also launched the BD Integra™ Syringe with Retracting PrecisionGlide™ Needle in 2002, the first and only retracting needle syringe offering an interchangeable needle, as well as the BD Eclipse™ injection needle with single-handed activation. These new products, along with BD’s other safety devices such as the BD SafetyGlide™ Syringe for Insulin, TB and Allergy, BD SafetyGlide™ Shielding Hypodermic Needle, and BD Safety-Lok™ Syringes, continue to demonstrate the company’s commitment to healthcare worker and patient safety.

Pioneering safety devices since 1989, BD has spent hundreds of million of dollars in developing safety-engineered devices and services. This includes installation of an entirely new production process for safety-engineered devices, clinical training, education programs, and unrestricted grants to research institutions. BD is also focusing on compiling epidemiological data to indicate the impact of using safety-engineered devices.

According to Frost & Sullivan’s analysis in the study U.S. Safety Sharps and Blood Collection (A455-54), "BD’s constant pursuit of excellence and its ability to identify end-user requirements has set it apart from competitors. Currently, BD holds 166 U.S. patents, more than any other safety-engineered device companies, and has a very broad range of safety products in sample collection, infusion therapy, injection systems, surgery, and sharps disposal. This is likely to ensure its continued success."

BD is a medical technology company that serves healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, medical industry, and the general public. BD manufactures and sells a broad range of medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment, and diagnostic products. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2002, BD reported total revenues of $4.033 billion.

Contact:
Jamie Frizzell
210.247.2496
jfrizzell@frost.com