Gambro and Baxter establishdialyzer manufacturing joint venture

Gambro and Baxter establish dialyzer manufacturing joint venture Stockholm, Sweden / Deerfield, Illinois, USA Gambro AB, a leading international medical technology and healthcare company, and Baxter Healthcare Corporation, a leading global medical products and services company, today announced that they have established a US based manu- facturing joint venture for dialyzers. Dialyzers are used to purify the blood of patients suffering from kidney disease and receiving hemodialysis. With this joint venture, combined manufacturing volumes of both Gambro and Baxter will be leveraged with significant cost benefits for both companies. The manufactured dialyzers will continue to be marketed and sold independently to healthcare providers by both Gambro and Baxter. The joint venture will source its dialyzers from an existing Baxter production facility in Mountain Home, Arkansas, USA. Baxter will manage the facility on behalf of the joint venture. Mats Wahlström, Executive Vice President of Gambro and responsible for Renal Care Services stated "This deal will allow Gambro to quickly establish manu- facturing of dialyzers in the US and to supply the demand for single use dia- lyzers of Gambro dialysis clinics. The single use strategy is an important part of our total system approach whereby we are reengineering the entire process in our dialysis clinics to improve the long-term efficiency. We hope to generate annual savings of more than SEK 50 M in our dialysis clinics when the new dialyzers have been fully implemented. Currently single use dialyzers are used in about one quarter of Gambro's own clinics. We have a very deliberate strategy to increase single use, which will strengthen the position of Gambro in the US as a provider of high quality renal care." Eric Beard, Corporate Vice President, President Baxter Renal Dialysis, said "This agreement underlines Baxter's commitment to the continual improvement of hemodialysis therapy and will help service the growing dialysis requirements worldwide. I am pleased that the joint venture can build on Baxter's manufac- turing quality and production expertise to service a large proportion of both companies' dialyzer requirements." Gambro is a global medical technology and healthcare company with leading positions in renal care - services and products - and blood component technology (BCT). Gambro is the second largest provider of kidney dialysis services in the world. Gambro treats about 40,000 patients in 460 clinics worldwide. Renal care products comprise dialyzers, dialysis machines, blood lines and dialysis fluid. BCT includes products for the separation and handling of blood components. The Group, with revenue of approximately SEK 19 billion (USD 2.3 billion) has approximately 18,000 employees in some 40 countries. For further information please contact: Bengt Modéer, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, tel. +46-8-613 65 00, +46-70-513 65 33 Tim Schoenberg, Vice President, US Investor Relations Manager, +1-949-425-2185 Anna Augustson, European Investor Relations Manager, tel. +46-8-613 65 35, +46-70-513 65 34 Baxter is a global medical products and services company that provides critical therapies for life-threatening conditions. The company's products and services in renal therapy, blood therapies (biopharmaceuticals and blood collection, separation and storage devices), cardiovascular medicine and medication delivery are used by healthcare providers in 112 countries. For further information please contact: Margaret Stanford, Corporate Communications, Baxter tel. +1-847-948 3951 Mary Kay Ladone, Investor Relations, Baxter, tel. + 1-847-948 3371 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/03/24/19990324BIT00020/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/03/24/19990324BIT00020/bit0002.pdf