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BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company, today announced it has entered into a licensing and distribution agreement for clinical tests from DiabetOmics Inc., a private global medical diagnostics company, with headquarters in Portland, Oregon. The company has developed new pregnancy-specific metabolic tests to provide early identification for preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.
Preeclampsia is the second-leading cause of maternal death and gestational diabetes is the most common prenatal complication, affecting up to 16 percent of pregnancies worldwide. DiabetOmics has identified glycosylated fibronectin (GlyFn) as a biological marker for the early identification of both conditions. BD plans to create simple, affordable assays using GlyFn on its BD Veritor™ point-of-care diagnostic platform. BD also plans to distribute DiabetOmics’ own point-of-care tests and reader, currently under development, in select international markets.
“BD has a long history of developing innovations to address unmet health needs and making these accessible throughout the world,” said Gary Cohen, executive vice president and president of Global Health for BD. “We are focusing on maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity because these are areas of significant unmet need, particularly in resource-poor settings. Having an affordable, accessible and easy-to-use testing platform for the identification of both preeclampsia and gestational diabetes will be a large step forward to improve maternal health around the world.”
Sri Nagalla, CEO of DiabetOmics, said,“DiabetOmics is pleased to enter into this agreement with BD. We believe BD has the ability to establish global access to these innovative tests for women around the world. Our company’s mission is to advance the health and wellbeing of pregnant women at risk for preeclampsia and diabetes through the application of clinical insight and advanced technology aimed at improving the diagnosis and monitoring of these conditions and their resulting complications.”
Subject to confirmation in clinical trials, BD’s new approach is expected to provide test results for gestational diabetes significantly earlier than current testing methods. Early diagnosis can enable earlier diet and lifestyle interventions that improve outcomes. For preeclampsia, subject to confirmation, the new test is expected to identify women at high risk for the condition earlier in pregnancy or provide a confirmatory diagnosis for those with suspected symptoms.
The BD Veritor™ System enables testing at the point of care with rapid results. Its portability is a key attribute to help serve developing markets. The digital display eliminates the need for a laboratory evaluation and subjective interpretation of lab results, while providing lab-quality accuracy for any user.
For more than a century, BD has applied its technologies, resources and institutional knowledge to help address fundamental health issues around the world. BD Global Health works to strengthen health systems and to develop and deploy market appropriate technologies that address priority health needs in areas such as HIV, tuberculosis, immunization and maternal and newborn health.
About BD
BD (bd.com) is a global medical technology company that is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. BD leads in patient and health care worker safety and the technologies that enable medical research and clinical laboratories. The company provides innovative solutions that help advance medical research and genomics, enhance the diagnosis of infectious disease and cancer, improve medication management, promote infection prevention, equip surgical and interventional procedures, optimize respiratory care and support the management of diabetes. The company partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues. BD has more than 45,000 associates across 50 countries who work in close collaboration with customers and partners to help enhance outcomes, lower health care delivery costs, increase efficiencies, improve health care safety and expand access to health.
This press release contains certain estimates and other forward-looking statements (as defined under Federal securities laws) regarding potential future sales and product development. Forward looking statements may be identified by use of words such as “plan”,“believe”,“expect” or other words of similar meaning. All such statements are based upon the current expectations of BD and involve a number of business risks and uncertainties. Actual results could vary materially from anticipated results described, implied or projected in any forward-looking statement. A number of factors could cause actual results to vary materially, including, without limitation, difficulties inherent in product development, delays in product introductions and uncertainty of market acceptance of new products; competitive factors including technological advances and new products introduced by competitors; pricing and market pressures; potential cuts in governmental healthcare spending and measures to contain healthcare costs; adverse changes in regional, national or foreign economic conditions; product efficacy or safety concerns; fluctuations in costs and availability of materials and in BD's ability to maintain favorable supplier arrangements and relationships; new or changing laws and regulations impacting our business or changes in enforcement practices with respect to such laws; future healthcare reform; as well as other factors discussed in BD's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not intend to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof except as required by applicable laws or regulations.
Contact: Monique N. Dolecki - BD Investor Relations
P: 201 847 5378 - E: monique_dolecki[.]bd.com
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