Waters completes combination with BD Biosciences to form high-throughput diagnostics platform

Waters completes combination with BD biosciences to form diagnostics platform

Waters Corporation completes its previously announced combination with Becton, Dickinson and Company’s Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions business on Feb. 9, 2026, creating a broad life sciences and diagnostics company focused on high-volume testing in regulated applications. The deal brings together complementary technologies across chemistry, physics and biology and expands Waters’ addressable market in clinical testing, biopharma development and materials science. Management frames the combination as a pivotal step to accelerate commercial execution and scale laboratory and diagnostic workflows worldwide.

Four-division structure to scale high-throughput testing

The combined company immediately organizes into four operating divisions — Waters Analytical Sciences, Waters Biosciences, Waters Advanced Diagnostics and Waters Materials Sciences — to support development and manufacturing of large and small molecules and to pursue high-growth adjacent markets. Waters emphasizes that the new structure is designed to leverage category-defining products and shared R&D to speed customer adoption of high-throughput and regulated testing solutions. Leadership says the integration aims to drive operational efficiencies, expand manufacturing and distribution capacity, and better serve regulated clinical, diagnostics laboratories and biopharma customers.

Governance boost with genomics expertise as strategic asset

Waters appoints genome scientist Claire M. Fraser, Ph.D., to its board effective on closing, increasing the board to 11 members and adding deep genomics and molecular diagnostics experience. Chairman Flemming Ørnskov and CEO Udit Batra stress that scientific leadership and governance are central to overseeing the enlarged company’s next growth phase and to aligning product road maps with regulated-market requirements. Management highlights the ability to combine scientific expertise across disciplines to address unmet customer needs and advance global health.

BD strategic steps and capital allocation

BD receives $4.0 billion in cash from the transaction and signals it will use about $2.0 billion for an accelerated share repurchase program and $2.0 billion to repay debt, measures the company says support its transformation into a focused MedTech business and underpin durable cash generation. BD characterizes the combination as the culmination of its BD 2025 strategy of divestitures and tuck‑in acquisitions and outlines ongoing priorities in commercialization, innovation and operations.

Device trial underscores industry move toward non‑drug therapies

Separately, a JAMA Surgery publication from WAT Medical Enterprise Ltd. reports a randomized multicenter trial showing the EmeTerm wristband — a transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation device — outperforms metoclopramide for moderate to severe postoperative nausea and vomiting, supporting a trend toward non‑pharmacological perioperative interventions. Authors and industry observers say such evidence-based neuromodulation options may reshape clinical workflows and expand device-enabled care pathways adjacent to diagnostics and testing services.