Becton Dickinson (BD) has announced its intention to separate its biosciences and diagnostic solutions business. The biosciences segment includes research instruments, re-agents and single-cell multiomics, while the diagnostic solutions segment consists of microbiology and infectious disease diagnostics.

Competitors could acquire these strong segments to boost their own sales, as they earned more than $3 billion in the fiscal year 2024. BD’s move could allow competitors to gain market share in the in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test market, as reported by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s US Healthcare Facility Invoicing Database, BD has market-leading products in the IVD space, holding just under 20% of the sexual health tests market, with strong products BD ProbeTec and BD MAX. These will both be part of the split from BD. With Hologic holding the majority of the market share for sexual health tests, it will be interesting to see if BD’s segments can be grown in this market. 

BD’s intent to split two segments off from the larger company provides other companies in the IVD space with a unique opportunity to strengthen their product offerings. In the sexual health tests market, an IVD competitor could acquire the BD segments to compete against Hologic. Alternatively, Hologic could use BD’s segments to strengthen its position in the market and ensure that it faces no competition.

In the respiratory disease tests market, no company currently makes up more than 50% of the market revenue. By acquiring and strengthening BD’s point-of-care infectious disease tests, a company in this space could gain enough market share to dominate the respiratory disease tests space. 

IVD competitors at the top of their market could acquire these segments from BD to secure more of the market and keep competition down. Additionally, smaller players in the market could use these segments to grow their market share and compete with the larger players.

Companies with IVD products in the sexual health test and respiratory disease test spaces should look at BD’s announcement as an opportunity to strengthen their presence and should consider how BD’s established products could help strengthen their sales and grow their market share.