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BAXTER HEALTHCARE
CORPORATION TO ACQUIRE
COOK PHARMACEUTICAL SOLUTIONS
Deerfield, Ill. and
Bloomington, Ind., June 20, 2001 - Baxter Healthcare Corporation and the
Cook Group today announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Baxter
to acquire the assets of Cook Pharmaceutical Solutions, a unit of Cook
Group Incorporated. Upon closing, Cook Pharmaceutical Solutions will become
part of Global Drug Delivery, a division of Baxter's Medication Delivery
business, which specializes in packaging medications into a variety of
systems and devices that make the drugs immediately ready for use in treating
the patient.
Under the agreement, Baxter intends to offer positions to the approximately
300 Cook Pharmaceutical Solutions' employees, a highly skilled workforce
that includes manufacturing, research and development and quality teams.
This is subject to Baxter's standard hiring practices. Baxter will purchase
the Cook property, which is comprised of six buildings on 11 acres at
Cook's Curry Pike campus in Bloomington, Indiana. The property includes
a newly expanded 120,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
Cook Pharmaceutical
Solutions provides a complete line of pharmaceutical contract manufacturing
services that includes a number of sterile product dosage forms such as
solutions, suspensions and freeze-dried (lyophilized) powders in a variety
of delivery systems including vials and pre-filled syringes. In addition,
Cook Pharmaceutical Solutions offers clinical and commercial manufacturing
and packaging, a full range of quality control analytical and microbiological
services, as well as validation and assistance in regulatory submissions.
"The acquisition
of Cook Pharmaceutical Solutions will broaden the range of delivery options
Baxter is able to offer our pharmaceutical partners around the world,"
explains David F. Drohan, corporate vice president and president of Baxter's
Medication Delivery business. "The addition of vial filling, lyophilization
and pre-filled syringe capabilities to our existing line of pre-filled
bag and reconstitution technologies will enhance our position as a full-line
drug delivery service provider."
The sale of Cook Pharmaceutical Solutions represents another step in Cook
Group's worldwide efforts to refocus on its core business of minimally
invasive medical devices for interventional and therapeutic procedures,
company officials reported. Proceeds from this sale will support increased
research and development efforts aimed at bringing emerging Cook medical
technologies to the global marketplace in a timely manner.
"Cook Group has always recognized the tremendous potential for growth
in our contract pharmaceutical business," explained Phyllis McCullough,
executive vice president of operations for Cook Group Incorporated. "Our
decision to sell that portion of our business to Baxter will ensure that
the pharmaceutical business we started reaches its fullest potential.
This decision was made only after we were convinced that this was a good
match with Cook and that Baxter was committed to establishing strong,
long-term relationships with our employees and with the Bloomington business
community."
Both companies anticipate
that the transaction will close by September 2001, subject to regulatory
approval.
With international headquarters in Bloomington, Ind., privately held COOK®
(http://www.cookgroup.com/)
is a leading designer, manufacturer and global distributor of minimally
invasive medical device technology for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
Since its founding in 1963, COOK has been committed to product innovation,
skilled hand-craftsmanship and unsurpassed customer satisfaction, earning
the company global recognition among medical professionals. Cook Incorporated
is acknowledged as an innovator in catheter technology, wire guides, introducer
needles and sheaths, stents and stent-grafts, embolization coils, drainage
catheters, tissue-engineered medical biomaterials, vena cava filters and
other minimally invasive medical devices. More than 40 companies in the
United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and Asia design, produce, manufacture
and distribute COOK brand medical devices to physicians and other medical
professionals around the world.
Baxter Healthcare Corporation is the principal U.S. operating subsidiary
of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX). Baxter is a global medical products
and services company that, through its subsidiaries, provides critical
therapies for people with life-threatening conditions. Baxter's products
and services in bioscience (biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, biosurgery and
transfusion therapies), medication delivery and renal therapy are used
by health-care providers and their patients in more than 100 countries.
Baxter's Medication Delivery business offers a single source for medication
delivery products and services, including drug delivery, intravenous solutions,
sets, infusion pumps, parenteral nutrition products, anesthesia devices
and pharmaceutical agents.
FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION:
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- Media Contacts:
- Deborah Spak, Baxter
Healthcare Corporation
(847) 948-2349
Dave McCarty, COOK®
(812) 339-2235 ext. 2387
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- Investor Contacts:
- Neville Jeharajah, Baxter
Healthcare Corporation
(847) 948-2875
Mary Kay Ladone, Baxter Healthcare Corporation
(847) 948-3371
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