BD, JDRF ink deal for extended-wear insulin delivery device

Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) said today that it inked a research collaboration supported by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to develop an extended-wear insulin delivery device.

The collaboration is a 2-year funding commitment from JDRF to extend the lifetime of insulin infusion-delivery devices. Insulin infusion sets are cleared by the FDA for up to 3 days of use. JDRF will support Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based BD in addressing the mechanical-material and biological issues that contribute to the limited lifetime and design devices that enable infusion sets to be effective for an extended period of time.

“Insulin infusion therapy has substantial clinical benefits for Type I diabetes management, yet its potential is limited by an abbreviated 3-day infusion set usage life,” diabetes care president Ken Miller said in prepared remarks. “Thanks to our latest partnership with JDRF, we can continue to build on the successful innovations BD currently offers in the insulin infusion category. We are extremely excited for this opportunity to advance the science and understanding of insulin delivery.”

“JDRF is pleased to continue our partnership with BD to further reduce the burden of managing infusion sets for people with type 1 diabetes,” added JDRF director of research business development Vincent Crabtree. “Living with diabetes is challenging, and JDRF’s goal is to provide broad access to innovative therapies, ensuring each person with this disease has access to treatments to enable them to have better outcomes and to lead healthy lives.”

The deal comes a week after BD posted fiscal 4th-quarter and full-year results that met or beat the consensus forecast on Wall Street. Notably, the medical product giant’s full-year profits soared 40.4% to $976 million, or $4.49 per share, on sales of $12.48 billion, for a top-line gain of 21.4% compared with fiscal 2014.