BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) and Babson Diagnostics announced a long-term strategic partnership agreement to bring laboratory-quality, small-volume blood collection to retail pharmacies. The partnership reflects emerging healthcare trends toward faster, less expensive laboratory testing in customer-friendly healthcare settings with more convenient hours and locations, as well as rapid growth in the diagnostic testing market.
The partnership builds on a collaboration between the two companies dating back to 2017. Its goal is to enable retail pharmacies to offer laboratory-quality diagnostic testing through Babson Diagnostics' service by combining BD's innovative capillary blood collection device in development with Babson Diagnostics' proprietary automated sample handling and analytical technologies, which are also in development.
BD's new capillary specimen collection device in development is designed to enable the collection of laboratory-quality specimens without the need to access a vein. Drawing from more than 70 years of specimen management success with BD Vacutainer devices, the small-volume blood collection devices being developed by BD will be designed for healthcare settings without a trained phlebotomist, such as retail pharmacies, physician offices, urgent care centers and skilled nursing facilities. Babson Diagnostics' diagnostic blood testing model is designed to allow customers to get physician-ordered or self-ordered diagnostic blood tests at convenient retail pharmacies.
