BD India - Accelerating biomedical discovery

Becton Dickinson and Company (BD), a BioSpectrum Top 20 company caters to a wide range of needs of the pharma industry—drug discovery, drug delivery, diagnostics etc. This US-based company is engaged principally in the manufacture and sale of a broad range of medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment and diagnostic products used by healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, industry and the general public as well.

BD operates in India through a wholly owned subsidiary known as BD India Pvt Ltd. BD has a manufacturing facility in India, a highly automated plant at Bawal, Haryana. This facility produces products like disposable needles, syringes and catheters, which are recognized all over the world. Its manufacturing techniques confirm to international standards and the factory has been recognized by the Haryana State Industrial Corporation.

The products manufactured by the company are sold worldwide. The major markets for BD outside the US include Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific, Canada and Latin America.

BD Business Segments

BD operations consist of three worldwide business segments: Medical Systems, Clinical Laboratory Solutions and Biosciences.

Medical Systems—The major products in this segment are hypodermic products, specially designed devices for diabetes care, prefillable drug delivery systems, infusion therapy products, elastic support products and thermometers. This segment also includes disposable scrubs, specialty needles and surgical products.

Clinical Laboratory Solutions—The main products in this segment are clinical and industrial microbiology products, sample collection products, specimen management systems, hematology instruments and other diagnostic systems, including immunodiagnostic test kits. This segment also includes consulting services and customized and automated bar-code systems.

Biosciences—This segment provides integrated systems, products and services for a variety of applications in life sciences. The major products are flow cytometry systems for cell analysis, monoclonal antibodies for biomedical research, molecular biology reagents for the study of genes, cell growth and screening products and labware products.

Headed by an active general manager, Sunit Trivedi, BD Biosciences is growing at a fast pace. Explaining about the biosciences division of the company, Sunit Trivedi said, "Through this division we are spreading awareness in the industry. As one of the largest business supporting the life sciences worldwide, BD biosciences provides biotechnology tools, leveraging the expertise in molecular biology, immunology and cell analysis. Conducting seminars and workshops is also a part of our mandate." Elaborating on the company strengths he said, "Our understanding about the research industry is our key strength. At BD Biosciences, we know what exactly the industry needs."

"We are committed to the highest standards of excellence in everything that we do. I am proud to work for a healthcare company whose products and services make a difference in people’s lives. We derive our greatest sense of accomplishment from doing what is right and not what is expedient." Sunit added.

Regional manger for technical support in the Asia pacific region, Dr Arvinder Singh is satisfied with the kind of services and relationship they have with their customers. He said, "We are targeting a very niche market. Since the market that we are catering to, is not very huge, we need to focus on our customer a lot. Through our after sales services, we understand their needs and cater to them accordingly. Sustaining customer relationship by providing quality service is a vital aspect for growth. We are doing this in a good way."

BD biosciences

The biosciences segment of Becton Dickinson (BD), has been built on BD’s 100-year foundation of commitment to its customers and business partners around the world. It has expertise in molecular biology, immunology and cell analysis along with the biotechnology tools. With four business units-Clontech, Discovery Labware, Immunocy-tometry systems and Pharmingen, BD Biosciences provides integrated high-value products and services for a variety of applications in the life sciences sector including genomics, proteomics, ADME/Tox, oncology and immune function.

The customers of the company include academic and government institutions focused on basic and clinical research in life sciences, biotech and pharma companies engaged in drug discovery and development, hospitals, reference labs and blood banks.

Clontech

As a leader in molecular biology, Clontech provides research reagents and assays kits with applications for genomics, functional genomics, proteomics and drug discovery. Major product brands include BD AtlasTM, BD Living colors and MatchmakersTM.

Discovery Labware

As a leader in engineered labware products, Discovery Labware provides products and services with applications for drug discovery and development, ADME/Tox, cell, tissue culture and fluid handling. Major brands include BD Falcon TM, BD Biocoat TM and BD Gentest TM.

Immunocytometry systems

As a leader in immunology and cell analysis, Immunocytometry systems provides flow cytometry systems for research and clinical use with applications for immune function, vaccine research, infectious disease and oncology. Major product brands include BD FACSTM, BD FACSCaliburTM, BD FACSVantageTM SE, BD TruCOUNTTM and BD OncomarkTM.

Pharmingen

As a leader in research immunology, Pharmingen provides biomedical research reagents and kits with applications for cell biology, immunology, molecular biology, oncology, proteo-mics and signal transduction. Major product brands include BD PowerBlotTM, BD RiboQuantTM, BD Cytometric Bread Array (CBA)TM, BD PharmingenTM, and BD Transduction LaboratoriesTM. In addition, Pharmingen offers BDTM ELISPOT reagents and BDTM Monoclonal
Antibodies.

"Emerging R&D in corporate, a good sign for industry"

It was an achievement of sorts for BD India’s Biosciences division, when they established India’s first ever flow cytometry training center this year. BD is running smoothly and creating its own market under a very niche umbrella. This and lot more has been achieved under the leadership of Sunit Trivedi, general manager, BD Biosciences. And after meeting him one can easily realize the immense potential of his team, which can achieve much bigger goals.

In an exclusive interview with BioSpectrum Sunit Trivedi introduces his company and highlights the future plans.

What is the status of drug research in India? What is the role of BD Biosciences in this field?

With the new patent regime in 2005 approaching fast, the Indian companies are in the process of gearing up their R&D facilities. The drug discovery market is getting huge day by day. Opportunities are flourishing into the Indian market and all we need to do is tap the market.

In this field, the initiative of BD Biosciences is now well known. We have recently opened a flow cytometry training center. Flow cytometry forms the basis of many research works and is an integral part of drug and vaccine research for diseases like leukemia, AIDS and stem cell therapy. This center can be seen as the pioneering step towards self-reliance in drug research in India.

How is the response from the research community and industry towards the flow cytometry initiative?

Until now, the Indian scientific and research community had to undergo a long training procedure abroad for proper understanding of the technology applications. Given the complicated nature of the technology, any new innovation in the product would have necessarily resulted in re-training of the community. This involved vast fund and time investment. With the launch of the training center all such impediments can be addressed effectively and promptly. By paying nominal charges any interested scientist can get the training and perform his or her research work. This short time training program lasts for few days and the fee is also not very high. As of now, 25 to 30 scientists have completed their training. They represent not only the research institutes but also the leading pharma companies.

What growth target have you put for yourself, especially in the flow cytometer market?

The flow cytometer instrumentation market is small. Infact, it would not be wrong saying that BD has driven this market. Investment is high in establishing a flow cytometer lab. The automated flow cytometer instrument comes for about Rs 2.5 crore. But with the kind of response shown by the industry and research community we are confident of its success in the near future. As far as target is concerned, we would be satisfied if we sell 3 - 4 flow cytometers in a year.

There is an increased emphasis on R&D all over the world. What is the trend in the Indian market?

The status of R&D is getting better and better. Industry is participating in a big way. A lot of pharma companies are taking up serious research and development work. But the money earmarked for R&D in India is low as compared to that in other parts of the globe. With the advent of pharma companies into R&D, the future scenario seems to be more biopharma-based. Apart form this, bioresearch holds a huge potential and this segment is becoming a great market in India.

What is the role of the Indian government in this sector?

It is nice to see that the government is playing an effective role in building a strong base for the industry. Initiatives taken by the government are considered good by several MNCs and big corporates. All these are good signs of growth. But what is needed is to keep up the pace and sustain the speed of growth. This will be possible when we always keep self-examining ourselves.

What are challenges and hurdles ahead of the industry?

I think there are some hurdles, which are acting as speed breakers on the road of Indian industry growth. Among them, high duty charge is the most important one. Due to high duty we cannot bring our products in the competitive price range. Apart from this, the bureaucratic hurdles should also be look into. The factor, which is affecting the business, is time consuming formalities. I think these are the few major constraints, which are affecting the industry in a negative way.

How is the current performance of the company? What are your future plans?

We are growing at an average of 20 to 22 percent every year. And we a working towards continuing with the same growth rate. The company had a turnover of
Rs 95.34 crore in the last fiscal year. And the company is expecting substantial growth by the end of this fiscal. BD Biosciences is catering to a small and niche segment and has a lion’s share, of about 95 percent, of this segment. We can say that we the drivers of our segment and hence the leaders.

What is the driving force at BD which makes the company grow?

We consider individual involvement and accountability to be both a right and a privilege and accept personal responsibility for everything that we do. We treat the company’s reputation as our own and try to make wise use of our time and the company’s resources.