Becton Dickinson's Magic Markers

Becton Dickinson thinks the continued automation of diagnostics is a no-win, low-margin game. Instead, it's making a big bet on discovering new, proprietary tests. And while the gamble is both high-cost and high-risk, the company figures the drug industry has now funded enough infrastructure and genomic research to make BD's search affordable. One other gamble: BD will have to partner out much of what it discovers since it doesn't have all the requisite testing platforms on which to run the assays.