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Baxter slashes price of PD fluids

Our Bureau, BangaloreWednesday, March 17, 2004, 08:00 Hrs  [IST]

Baxter India (Pvt) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Baxter Healthcare, has announced a 12 per cent decrease in the price of its Peritoneal Dialysis fluids. Prices of the two-litre twin bag system have dropped from Rs 165 per bag to Rs 145 per bag. "The reduction in prices reaffirms our commitment to make the therapy increasingly affordable,” said Sanjiv Verma, country manager, Baxter India. He further added, “The current price drop is expected to bring down monthly ESRD (end-stage renal disease) therapy costs by over Rs. 1900/-. The last price drop in July 2001 saw therapy costs reduce by over Rs. 5,000/- per month for the world standard twin bag system.” Over 1,00,000 individuals contract ESRD which is commonly referred to as kidney failure in the country. Of this, only 20,000 undergo treatment of any sort largely due to late detection, affordability issues and distance from treatment centres. PD is a home dialysis therapy, wherein impurities in the blood are cleansed by a solution inserted into a patient's abdominal cavity and drained out after a period of time. This is easily performed at home and is a boon for patients who reside far from treatment centres. Also, the therapy is particularly suitable for patients who wish to pursue normal and active lives as the therapy imposes very few restrictions on lifestyles. Patients on PD therapy are known to lead active working lives, including actively participating in sports. Baxter established operations in India in 1997, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Baxter Healthcare International. It markets a variety of products used to treat patients with kidney disease, systems for blood collection and component separation, IV infusion systems, pain management products and many other therapeutic systems. Baxter currently employs approximately 600 people at its three facilities and sales and marketing offices across the country. Baxter International Inc. is a global health care company. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides critical therapies for people with life-threatening conditions. Baxter's bioscience, medication delivery and renal products and services are used to treat critical patients affected by cancer, hemophilia, immune deficiencies, infectious diseases, kidney disease and trauma.

 
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