Abstract
Baxter International, based in Deerfield, Illinois, USA, manufactures products
for people with life-threatening conditions such as cancer, trauma,
haemophilia, immune deficiencies, infectious diseases and kidney disease. It
operates in three segments, as follows:-
Medication Delivery - infusion systems, access systems, alternate care
products, anaesthesia and critical care products, parenteral nutrition,
injectable drugs and IV therapy products.
Renal - dialysis products and services, including peritoneal dialysis
solutions, container systems and automated machines and solutions for
haemodialysis (HD). The unit used to provide HD instruments but discontinued
their manufacture in July 2005.
BioScience - recombinants, plasma proteins, antibody therapy, vaccines and
regenerative medicine products. Also used to offer manual and automated blood
collection products and storage equipment through its Transfusion Therapies
unit but sold the business in February 2007.
Only Baxter' s medical device activities are covered in this profile. These
products include infusion systems and accessories, IV therapies and drug
delivery products within the Medication Delivery segment, the whole Renal
division and regenerative medicine products within the BioScience unit.
Products such as drugs for IV delivery and anaesthesia, inhalation agents,
coagulation factors, immune globulins, albumin, vaccines and dialysis
solutions are not included.
Within Baxter' s medical device operations, key areas of focus for Baxter
include resuming sales of its infusion pumps and developing its peritoneal
dialysis product line. A new area for the company in recent years has been
biosurgery and regenerative medicine, including products for hard and soft
tissue repair and regeneration. The company' s investments in this area have
included acquisitions, internal R&D and strategic alliances. The company has
agreements with Vectura, whereby it offers the Adept adhesion reduction
solution for use in obstetric and gynaecologic surgery and with Angiotech
Pharmaceuticals for its CoSeal vascular sealant. Baxter also has a research
agreement with Kuros for the development of biomaterials addressing hard and
soft tissue repair. It also has rights outside the US to Angiotech' s Adhibit
non-drug-loaded surgical adhesion prevention product, as well as an option to
obtain US rights for the product. In a move into other areas of regenerative
medicine, Baxter is also investigating the use of stem cells in the treatment
of chronic myocardial ischaemia.
Baxter believes its global presence and infrastructure is one of its key
strengths. In 2006, 56% of Baxter' s sales were generated outside the US and
58% of its workforce was internationally based. Baxter maintains 16
manufacturing facilities in US, including three in Puerto Rico. The company
also manufactures in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Ireland,
Italy, Japan, Malta, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain,
Switzerland, Turkey and the UK. The majority of these facilities are shared by
more than one of the company' s business segments.
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