News Release

BAXTER RELEASES NEW SOFTWARE FOR ITS COLLEAGUE LINE OF INFUSION PUMPS

New Colleague Guardian Software Feature Increases Patient Safety, Reduces Medication Error

Deerfield, Ill., November 29, 2001 - Baxter Healthcare Corporation today announced the release of new medication infusion pump software developed to provide features to enhance patient safety through the reduction of intravenous medication programming errors. The software, the COLLEAGUE GUARDIAN FEATURE, is available on all COLLEAGUE CX (color) infusion pump models.

The COLLEAGUE GUARDIAN FEATURE was developed to allow a hospital to enter its own standard drug infusion protocols into the COLLEAGUE drug library. This allows hospitals to set customized dose limits for more than 90 different drug protocols. When hospital staff administer a medication through the infusion pump, the COLLEAGUE GUARDIAN FEATURE compares each dose entered against the hospital-defined limits. If a dose is programmed outside these limits, the COLLEAGUE GUARDIAN FEATURE provides a visual and audible alarm, informing the clinician that the dose is outside the hospital formulary's recommended range. This interface between pump and clinician is enhanced by the use of a color screen, the first innovation of this type in the infusion pump industry.

The 1999 Institute of Medicine report titled "To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System," citing that up to 7000 deaths each year are caused by medication error, led to increased awareness of the problem of patient safety in the U.S. Health System, .

"Patient safety is our number one concern," said David Bonderud, general manager of Baxter's infusion systems business, a part of Baxter's medication delivery business unit. "The scope and impact of medication errors on patients is well documented and the COLLEAGUE GUARDIAN FEATURE is one of many initiatives at Baxter focused on patient safety. The COLLEAGUE GUARDIAN FEATURE is intended to minimize the potential for infusion pump dose programming errors in the high-pressure hospital environment. The color screen communicates critical infusion status information at a glance, enhancing readability for the clinician."

The COLLEAGUE GUARDIAN FEATURE was developed based on input from several hospitals. "We were looking to improve patient safety by reducing medication delivery errors," said Joan Karnas, director of nursing practice, Fairview Southdale Hospital near Minneapolis. "The COLLEAGUE GUARDIAN FEATURE, with its color screen and alarm, fully meets our expectations. In our short trial of this feature, we saw a great benefit and will be implementing this feature on all of our infusion pumps."

The COLLEAGUE GUARDIAN FEATURE represents one of the many innovative solutions Baxter is bringing to the marketplace to reduce medication delivery errors. Baxter pioneered the development of infusion pumps that do not require expensive dedicated cassettes. Operating on standard tubing, the COLLEAGUE line of infusion pumps has helped hospitals streamline to fewer, less expensive disposables, while safely and accurately delivering IV medication. COLLEAGUE was the first infusion pump to offer automatic tube-loading, further reducing the potential for medication errors associated with loading and unloading tubing, thus making initiation of IV therapy safer and easier.

Baxter Healthcare Corporation is the principal domestic 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. The company'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.

Colleague, Colleague CX and Colleague with the GUARDIAN FEATURE are registered trademarks of Baxter International Inc.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

	Media Contact: George Rafeedie, (847) 948-3675 Investor Contacts: Neville Jeharajah, (847) 948-2875 Mary Kay Ladone, (847) 948-3371