BD Announces Plans for Discontinuation of Conventional Needle Sales in the U.S. Across Many Product Categories.

Business Editors

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 2003

Reflects Progress in U.S. Transition to Safety-Engineered Devices

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX) is announcing plans to discontinue U.S. sales of many conventional needles and other "sharps" devices across a range of product categories.

These actions coincide with the second anniversary of the April 18, 2001 compliance date for the Federal Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, and reflect the significant progress made by U.S. healthcare facilities in transitioning to safety-engineered designs.

"Over the past 15 years, the medical device manufacturing industry has introduced a continuous stream of safety-engineered sharps device innovations, all designed to protect healthcare workers from injuries," said Edward J. Ludwig, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of BD. "Hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the U.S. have made great progress in the change-over to safety-engineered designs. Based on this progress, BD is now able to discontinue the sale of many conventional sharps devices, without disrupting patient care or clinical practice."

BD estimates that U.S. hospitals have transitioned over 80% of their sharps product usage from conventional to safety-engineered designs in the following categories: IV catheters, "needleless" IV connectors, blood drawing needles, winged needle sets, and lancet devices. The level of transition is lower for syringes and needles, surgical blades and scalpels, and certain other categories of devices utilized for specialty medical procedures. Across all product categories, the overall level of transition to safety designs remains lower in clinics and physicians' offices than in hospitals.

A study recently published by the International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia indicates that the incidence of sharps injury to nurses in a multihospital network of U.S. teaching facilities declined by 51% between 1993 and 2001. According to Mr. Ludwig, "The results of this study provide clear evidence of the progress made over an eight year period in reducing sharps injury risks."

BD has already initiated the discontinuation of sales in the U.S. of many conventional sharps devices across a range of product categories, including IV catheters, winged needle sets, lancets, and glass blood collection tubes. BD is communicating the details of these and additional discontinuations to its U.S. customers, including specific products and timelines. BD sales consultants are prepared to work with healthcare facilities to help ensure a smooth transition. The company indicated that it also is actively pursuing transition to safety-engineered devices in countries throughout the world, and it will implement similar actions in other countries as their healthcare facilities reach a high level of transition.

BD is a medical technology company that serves healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, 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.

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements (as defined under Federal securities laws) regarding BD's performance, including future revenues, products and income, or events or developments that BD expects to occur or anticipates occurring in the future. All such statements are based upon 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. Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from any forward-looking statement include, but are not limited to: competitive factors; pricing and market share pressures; uncertainties of litigation; BD's ability to achieve sales and earnings forecasts, which are based on sales volume and product mix assumptions, to achieve its cost savings objectives, and to achieve anticipated synergies and other cost savings in connection with acquisitions; changes in regional, national or foreign economic conditions; increases in energy costs; fluctuations in costs and availability of raw materials and in BD's ability to maintain favorable supplier arrangements and relationships; changes in interest or foreign currency exchange rates; delays in product introductions; and changes in health care or other governmental regulation, as well as other factors discussed in this press release and in BD's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not intend to update any forward-looking statements.