Becton, Dickinson and Company is delving into new territory with its latest acquisition. The Franklin Lakes, NJ-based company acquired Cytognos, which will help it expand into cancer post-treatment and monitoring.

The deal is for an undisclosed sum.

Salamanca, Spain-based Cytognos said it specializes in flow cytometry solutions for blood cancer diagnosis, minimal residual disease (MRD) detection and immune monitoring research for blood diseases. The company was founded 25 years ago and was a division of Vitro, a Spanish diagnostics company that develops, produces and sells fully integrated reagents, hardware and software platforms.

With the acquisition of Cytognos, BD gains exclusive access to advanced assays licensed from the EuroFlow Consortium, a scientifically independent network in the fields of hematology and immunology with scientists and researchers from more than 20 European universities and hospitals. BD has existing license agreements with EuroFlow for multiple other assays and the addition of the Cytognos assays further strengthens BD's 12-year licensing collaboration with EuroFlow.   

"As the understanding and treatment of cancer evolves and improves, the importance of monitoring post remission cancer survivors has become paramount to improve patient outcomes," said Puneet Sarin, worldwide president of BD Biosciences. "Cytognos' capabilities are complementary to those already developed by BD scientists to screen for the most common blood cancers and will enable BD to expand beyond cancer discovery and diagnosis into the monitoring phase of the patient's journey. We're building on our strong track record of identifying and executing on opportunities and then integrating those new products and businesses into our portfolio." 

2021 was an absolute M&A-Fest for BD. The company announced seven acquisitions. Boston Scientific and Hologic came close – announcing about five acquisitions a piece.

In addition to acquisitions, BD is spinning off its  diabetes care business into a publicly-traded company in the first half of this year. The unit has a rich history that dates back to 1924, when BD introduced the world’s first specialized syringe.