BAXTER TO AUGMENT INFUSION PUMP OFFERINGS
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
BAXTER TO AUGMENT INFUSION PUMP OFFERINGS via the acquisition of Bard MedSystems. On Feb. 10, Bard announced it had reached an agreement in principle to sell the North Reading, Massachusetts- based division to Baxter. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Baxter says that one of the most important products it would pick up through the acquisition is Bard MedSystems' hospital-based patient controlled analgesia pump. The electrically driven pump will complement Baxter's portable PCA patient controlled analgesia device, which is powered by an elastic balloon and can also be used for delivering antibiotics and chemotherapy agents. Other products that Baxter would gain through the deal include an anesthesia delivery product line. Baxter says that MedSystems would continue to be based in North Reading following the acquisition. The firm has not yet determined whether it would make any management, personnel or facility changes. In announcing the deal, Bard said that the sale of MedSystems was in keeping with a company "effort to focus and concentrate its resources on single patient use devices." The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of the first quarter of 1993 and is subject to, among other things, approval by the Department of Justice. Bard says the sale will result in a one-time gain in non-operating income, but since the firm plans "to take a first quarter charge for the adoption of a new accounting standard regarding postretirement benefit obligations," non-operating items "should have no significant effect on first quarter 1993 income."