Magazine
#5 Baxter BioScience
One Baxter Parkway Deerfield, IL 60015
Tel: (847) 948-2000 Fax: (847) 948-3642
www.baxter.com
| Headcount | 48,500 (total company) |
|
| Year Established | 1931 | |
| Biopharma Revenues | $5,308 | +14% |
| Total Revenues | $12,348 | +10% |
| Net Income | $2,014 | +18% |
| R&D Budget | $868 | +14% |
| 2008 Top Selling Drugs | |||
| Drug | Indication | Sales | (+/-%) |
| Recombinants | $1,966 | +15% | |
| Plasma proteins | $1,219 | +20% | |
| Antibody therapies | $1,217 | +24% | |
| Regenerative medicine | $408 | +18% | |
Account for 91% of total biopharma sales, up from 87% in 2007.
PROFILE
Baxter’s Bioscience division performed well in 2008, achieving 14% revenue growth and an equally impressive 18% rise in income. The division includes hemophilia, immunoglobulin, critical care and pulmonology therapies, as well as regenerative medicines and vaccines. Advate, the company’s recombinant factor VIII therapy for hemophilia, was the primary growth driver, with sales topping $1.5 billion (+25%).
Playing an increasingly important role in vaccines, Baxter recently completed testing of the A/H1N1 (swine flu) virus and is now in full-scale production of a commercial vaccine using its rapid Vero cell culture technology. Baxter received an A/H1N1 strain from the U.S. CDC in May and is working to deliver a pandemic vaccine for use as early as July. Once stockpiling begins, Baxter stands to rival vaccine giants GSK and Sanofi-Aventis. In other pandemic news, the EMEA issued a positive opinion for Celvapan, the first cell culture-based H5N1 (avian flu) vaccine.
The company is also looking to make advancements with its Gammagard Liquid (Immune Globulin Intravenous or IGIV), and initiated two additional Phase III trials studying the antibody replacement therapy in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN). In AD, the antibodies are directed against beta amyloid proteins, which are theorized to build up on the brain and disrupt nerve function. The hope is that the antibodies in IGIV can help protect the brain from the toxic effects of beta amyloids. Additionally, Baxter initiated a Phase III trial of IGIV 10% using Halozyme Therapeutics’ Enhanze Technology for the treatment of primary immunodeficiency (PID) via injection at a single site, which would allow for a full monthly dose in a single injection.
In the company’s hemophilia franchise, dosing began in a Phase I trial of recombinant therapy for von Willebrand Disease, an inherited bleeding disorder. The company also initiated several preclinical programs to develop recombinant factor IX proteins to treat hemophilia, as well as longer acting versions of factor VIII.
Baxter Bioscience came out of the gate strong in 1Q09, with sales up 3% and plasma-protein sales up 5%, easing recent concerns about too much supply and falling prices. The company has withstood the economic strains of late — in part, due to the critical nature of the diseases its products treat — and is in line to continue to do so.—KB
For the full Baxter Bioscience profile, including pipeline and patent information, download the PDF.
Return to Top Biopharma Report homepage.
