Baxter Opens Its First Manufacturing Plant in China

Baxter Healthcare has opened its first manufacturing plant in China, in the southern province of Guangzhou, which the company says represents a major step forward in its commitment to expansion in the Pacific Rim.

The plant is a 75% Baxter-owned venture, with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical General Corp, one of the area's largest drugmakers, and the Guangzhou Industrial Development Corp owning the remainder. The plant, which will make solutions for continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, was constructed at a cost of approximately $12 million.

With around 2.6 billion people, the Pacific Rim (which in Baxter's terms excludes Japan, Australia and New Zealand) is a major focus of Baxter's international expansion plans. The company anticipates that sales in the region will increase from $100 million currently to $500 million over the next five years. According to the company's chairman and chief executive, Vernon Loucks, Asia and the Pacific Rim are expected to provide Baxter with the fastest growth worldwide between now and the end of the decade. "It is our most promising area of opportunity," he said.