News Release

BAXTER HEALTHCARE CORPORATION RECEIVES AWARD FOR NEISVAC-C FROM TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL OF MARYLAND

Biotechnology Product of the Year for Prevention of Group C Meningococcal Meningitis


Columbia, MD, April 20, 2001 - Baxter Healthcare Corporation's BioScience business has received the Biotechnology Product of the Year Award from The Technology Council of Maryland (TCM). Baxter was recognized for its NeisVac-C vaccine, which was one of three vaccines used in a highly successful mass vaccination campaign to protect against meningococcal C meningitis in the United Kingdom.

"In the high-risk world of vaccine development, the coming to fruition of Baxter Healthcare Corporation's NeisVac-C vaccine for Meningococcal C meningitis in 2000 was a significant achievement," said Richard A. Zakour, Ph.D., senior vice president for Government Operations and Business Development at McKesson HBOC Clinical & Biological Services, and a member of the TCM awards committee for the past nine years. "Replacing vaccines that were not protective in children less than two years of age, NeisVac-C evolved through an 11-year product development cycle to commercialization with exponential acceleration to licensure in response to a major public health issue in the United Kingdom."

Each year, this award is presented to acknowledge a biotechnology product that has made an outstanding contribution to the growth and development of a company, the local community and the state of Maryland in the high-technology field. The product cycle for the NeisVac-C vaccine was successfully completed, from development to commercialization, at Baxter's vaccine facilities located in Columbia and Beltsville, Maryland.

"We are extremely proud of every team member who contributed to the development of this lifesaving and groundbreaking vaccine," said Thomas Glanzmann, president of Baxter's BioScience business. "This award recognizes that NeisVac-C provides excellent long-term protection for millions of people, greatly reducing their risk of contracting this potentially lethal infection."

NeisVac-C is one of a new generation of "conjugate" vaccines in which the body's immune system elicits a stronger, longer-lasting antibody response across a wider age range than non-conjugate vaccines. The end result is faster protection of susceptible populations, especially in infants and children less than two years of age. This long-term protection in children enables conjugate vaccines, such as NeisVac-C, to be used in routine child immunization programs.

Meningococcal meningitis is a global killer through endemic disease and epidemic outbreaks. In the United Kingdom, meningococcal disease was identified as the No. 1 killer of children ages one to five years in the late 1990s. In 1999 the United Kingdom included prevention of group C meningococcal infection as part of its mandatory vaccination program and issued a "call to arms" to manufacturers to supply newly developed and licensed conjugate vaccines for a mass vaccination campaign to immunize all individuals 18 years of age and under.

Baxter responded as one of three manufacturers to this challenge and scaled-up and manufactured three million doses of NeisVac-C. These vaccines have had a dramatic effect on the expected incidence of serogroup C disease. Interim results show an overall 75 percent reduction in meningitis C cases across all age groups in the program, avoiding an estimated 500 cases and saving 50 lives.

The populations at risk from meningitis span all age categories from infants to adults. In Europe and North America, group C meningococcus is a leading cause of meningococcal infection, frequently resulting in permanent brain damage and death. In the United States, meningococcal C infections occur at an estimated rate of one to three cases out of 100,000 people each year -- primarily children and young adults -- with a fatality rate as high as 12 percent when the bacteria are found in the blood.

The Technology Council of Maryland (TCM), now in its 15th year, is a 501c (3) consortium of high technology firms, federal laboratories, education institutions and business support firms that collectively form the Maryland technology community. Member companies represent thousands of knowledge-based employees in the state and the region surrounding the nation's capital.

Baxter Healthcare Corporation is the principal U.S. subsidiary of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX). Baxter International Inc. is a global medical products and services company that provides critical therapies for people with life-threatening conditions. Baxter's products and services in bioscience (biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, biosurgery products and transfusion therapies), medication delivery and renal therapy are used by health-care providers and their patients in more than 100 countries.

(Baxter and NeisVac-C are trademarks of Baxter International Inc. and its affiliates.)

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	Media Contacts: Deborah Spak, (847) 948-2349