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| A technician verifies labeling on an elastomeric device against the work order.--Courtesy of Baxter |
Baxter International ($BAX) will spend $10 million to expand its pharma admixing capacity in Canada.
The drugmaker said the expansion will triple to about 30,000 square feet the size of the operation, which prepares ready-to-administer intravenous (IV) admixtures including chemotherapy, high-alert medications and anti-infectives that are sold to Canadian hospitals, clinics and other care facilities.
The expansion will double the number of clean rooms in the facility in Mississauga, Ontario. It will also include training space to work with professional organizations and providers to help them meet training requirements. Baxter expects to add up to 25 new employees in the next several years to the 55 that work there now. Work on the expansion is expected to be completed in October of next year.
Baxter's medical products business sells compounding devices that hospitals and clinics can use to do their own admixing, as well as software to help with managing IV and oral-dose preparation. In 2011, it paid $380 million to get Baxa, a specialist in that area.
CIVA is part of its medical products operations and so will remain with Baxter when the company spins off its pharma business next year into Baxalta, a new publicly traded company that is projected to have about $6 billion in sales.
- here's the release