More than two years ago, Becton Dickinson & Co. became the first company to sign a big-stakes diagnostics deal with Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. , investing unprecedented amounts of money in exchange for Millennium's yet-unproven expertise in finding high-value, patentable genomic markers for oncology. The agreement was noteworthy not only because of the amount of money involved—more than $70 million if it worked out—but because it exemplified a new paradigm for discovering new tests, the kind of strategy that had the potential to lead the diagnostics industry out of its slow-growth, low-margin cycle [See Deal]. (See "Becton Dickinson's Magic Markers," IN VIVO, May 1999 [A#1999800719].)
Now, in an indication of progress, BD has signed a strategic alliance with TriPath Imaging Inc. , to help...