Healthcare Matters

Making a bold move to address its capacity constraints, Baxter International is investing more than $1 billion into a plant that will specialize in plasma-derived therapies. The impetus for the investment seems to have a lot to do with the drug Gammagard, which the company is studying as a potential Alzheimer’s treatment.

Long known for IV products and regarded as a bit of a one trick pony with its drug Advate (for hemophiliacs), Baxter’s R&D pipeline “will change the personality of the company” according to Bob Parkinson, the company’s CEO. Simply put, while the stakes for Gammagard are high, the company is bound and determined to change its image and become known as a more diversified and significant pharmaceutical player.

About Gammagard: Although known for its immune system boosting properties, Gammagard is in the late-stage clinical trial phase of the approval process –as a potential Alzheimer’s treatment– so the factory announcement timing seems to reflect a strong confidence in a positive outcome. According to a recent article in Forbes, “the extra capacity for Gammagard as an Alzheimer’s treatment is just a side benefit to a decision made by Baxter chief executive Bob Parkinson to spend more than $1 billion on a factory that will support the growth of Gammagard for immune system disorders as well as other plasma-derived products for trauma and other conditions. The Covington, Georgia, site is expected to be operational by 2018.”

In July, Gammagard drew a great deal of attention at an international Alzheimer’s meeting when researchers reported four patients who received the drug had no decline over three years in several key measures of cognition and daily function. Obviously, more should be known as current and planned phase III trials wrap up over the next year, but given the absence of available therapies, one can safely assume that the FDA is on top of things and will not become an unreasonable hurdle.

Sources: PRNewswire, Forbes, Baxter

—Tom Finn