Why BD Insulin Syringes?


If you give yourself injections every day, you want the best needles available - the brand that hospitals, doctors, and self-injectors use more than any other. And that's BD.

Recommended by Diabetes Educators and Preferred by Syringe Users

Diabetes Educators recommend BD syringes to their patients more than any other brand because of the fine, thin BD needles and their wide availability.1

People who inject insulin are just as convinced - the satisfaction ratings for BD syringes are higher than for other leading brands. When syringe users were asked to rate their level of satisfaction with their chosen brands, BD users rated BD products higher than did the users of other brands on these important characteristics:

  • Ease of penetrating the skin

  • Overall quality of the syringe

  • Sharpness of the needle

  • Ease of dispensing the total dosage

  • Ease of measuring to the correct dose line

  • Ease of reading the scale on the syringe

  • Consistent quality from syringe to syringe

  • Comfort of injection into the skin

  • Smooth action of the plunger when drawing up insulin


The Largest Supplier of Syringes in the World

Since the day in 1924 that we introduced the first syringe for insulin injection, BD has been the world's leading supplier of insulin syringes. In fact, BD is the largest manufacturer of hypodermic needles and syringes in the world. Virtually every pharmacy in the United States stocks BD insulin syringes. Most private insurance plans that cover insulin syringes and pen needles cover BD products.


Leaders in Needle Technology

As a leader in needle technology and injection comfort, BD has a history of innovation in diabetes products:

  • The first dose of insulin ever given

  • The first disposable insulin syringe

  • The first self-contained insulin syringe 

  • The first 1/2cc insulin syringe

  • The first 3/10cc insulin syringe

  • The first short needle insulin syringe


Focus on Quality, Comfort, and Safety

BD is constantly seeking to improve syringes and pen needles to make them more comfortable and easy to use. Some of our many design enhancements include:

Scale alignment: It's easy to hold a BD syringe with the flanges or wings side to side with the scale markings facing you. On some other brands, the scale is not always located in the same spot, and you may have to turn the syringe to see it.

Flat-top plunger: Attached to the plunger in a BD syringe is a black rubber stopper that's lined up with the scale markings in order to draw up a dose. The top of a BD rubber stopper is flat so that it's easy to line up with the scale marks. Some other brands don't have flat top plungers.

Free of natural rubber latex: Recognizing that latex sensitivity is an issue in the healthcare environment, BD made the development of natural rubber latex-free syringes a priority. BD insulin syringes and pen needles do not contain natural rubber latex.

Smooth needles: Other needles can have microscopic burrs or imperfections in the steel, which can cause injections to be painful. BD's manufacturing processes have virtually eliminated such imperfections.

Lubricant: BD needles are coated with a low-friction lubricant to create a smoother edge that makes injecting easier and less painful. 

Quality control: BD inspects each and every one of our needles during the manufacturing process to ensure the very highest quality.

Our research and engineering departments are leaders in needle technology. It's because of this commitment to product excellence and innovation that BD syringes and pen needles consistently deliver the highest quality and the greatest comfort and ease of use.

How do we measure the quality of our products? Our laboratory engineers test BD syringes alongside other brands. We measure penetration force (the force required for the needle tip to penetrate skin) and drag force (the force required for the needle to move through the skin once the tip has penetrated). A needle with lower penetration forces and drag forces hurts less than a needle with higher forces. BD needles have low penetration and drag forces because of our unique combination of excellent point geometry, lubricant, smooth steel surfaces, and strict quality control procedures.

1 BD 2001 AADE Annual Meeting Survey
2 Data on file with BD

 


The BD Diabetes Learning Center describes the causes of diabetes, its symptoms, and diabetes complications such as retinopathy and neuropathy. This site contains detailed information about blood glucose monitoring, insulin injection and safe sharps disposal. Interactive quizzes, educational literature downloads and animated demonstrations help to teach diabetes care skills.

Important Note: The content of this website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Do not disregard your doctor's advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this website.

Unless otherwise noted, BD, BD logo and all other trademarks are property of Becton Dickinson and Company. © 2013 BD