Four-day Event to Showcase Contributions from Midwest and Biotech Industry to Medicine, Agriculture and Environment
DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Next week, Chicago will host the 2010 Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) International Convention, where an estimated 15,000 global industry leaders will come together to address many of the most pressing health, food and energy challenges facing our world today.
As co-sponsor of this year’s convention, which takes place May 3-6 at McCormick Place, Baxter International Inc. is pleased to welcome the biotech community to the Midwest, and to the company’s home state of Illinois, which has long been a hub for groundbreaking biotechnology research and development, thanks to several world-renowned academic, government and non-profit research institutions. In 2008, for example, Illinois ranked third nationally in awarding bioscience-related degrees. Today, the state has more than 170 pharmaceutical, medical device and agricultural biotech and biofuels companies.
“Innovations by scientists throughout Illinois’ biotech community have the potential to significantly improve lives worldwide, by preventing and treating disease, creating a safer food supply and producing energy in new and more efficient ways,” said Robert L. Parkinson, Jr., Baxter’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Since its founding in Morton Grove, Ill. in 1931, Baxter has maintained a strong biotechnology presence in the state. The company was responsible for the first commercially manufactured intravenous solutions, the first commercial kidney dialysis machine, the first concentrated clotting factor to treat hemophilia and many other medical breakthroughs. More recent “firsts” include the first protein-free recombinant factor VIII for hemophilia and the first cell culture-derived pandemic flu vaccine. Today, with 5,600 employees at locations in Deerfield, McGaw Park, Round Lake and Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Baxter remains one of the largest members of the biotechnology industry in the state and in the Midwest.
As one of the Chicago area’s largest science- and technology-based companies, Baxter plays an important role in ensuring that Illinois continues to build on its reputation as a center of scientific excellence moving forward. Through Baxter’s Science@Work program, a multi-year partnership with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Renaissance Schools Fund and Illinois Institute of Technology, the company is supporting the first biotechnology education teacher training and student development program in CPS history. During the 2008-2009 school year, more than 24,000 CPS students and 350 teachers in 109 schools learned about biotechnology as part of Baxter’s financial and volunteer support. The company has hosted 30 lab tours, lectures and symposia for teachers and students, to enrich biotechnology curricula throughout CPS.
“Advancing elementary and high school science and math education today sets the foundation for the region’s biotech discoveries for years to come,” Parkinson said.
Visit Booth Number 2300 at the 2010 BIO convention to learn more about Baxter’s diverse technological expertise and commitment to scientific innovation. Baxter's R&D pipeline focuses on products and therapies that have the potential to satisfy unmet clinical needs, expand patient access to vital treatments, advance standards of care and patient convenience, improve medical treatment, and reduce medication errors. Over the last year, Baxter has initiated 13 Phase III clinical trials, and is advancing numerous therapies that have the potential to profoundly impact the treatment and delivery of care for chronic conditions like Alzheimer’s, kidney and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, multifocal motor neuropathy, as well as public health threats like pandemic and seasonal influenza.
Baxter’s extensive development, formulation, packaging and manufacturing capabilities also are utilized by dozens of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to produce clinical and commercial product, and differentiate their products through alternative formulation and delivery methods. Baxter is a global leader in contract manufacturing of pre-filled syringes, liquid and lyophilized vials, cartridges and cytotoxic parenterals, and was recently named "Best Contract Manufacturing Organization" at the 3rd annual Vaccine Industry Excellence Awards at the World Vaccine Congress, for excellence in contract manufacturing and customer service.
Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX), through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures and markets products that save and sustain the lives of people with hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. As a global, diversified healthcare company, Baxter applies a unique combination of expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to create products that advance patient care worldwide.
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Baxter International Inc.
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Moyra Knight, (847) 948-3068
Deborah Spak, (847) 948-2349
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KEYWORDS: United States North America Illinois
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Medical Devices Pharmaceutical Other Health Research Other Science Medical Supplies Science General Health
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