News Release

BAXTER HIGHLIGHTS GROWTH INITIATIVES AT ANNUAL INVESTOR CONFERENCE

Baxter Plans for Further Expansion of BioScience Business
with Announcement of 5th Production Suite in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and Significant Increases in Recombinant Factor VIII Production Yields

Vaccines Growth to be Fueled by Influenza Vaccine Approvals and Increased Manufacturing Capacity

DEERFIELD, Ill., March 14, 2002 -- Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) today outlined plans during its annual investor conference to further accelerate the company's growth in the years ahead. The acquisitions, expanded manufacturing capacity and licensing agreements the company has announced already this year, together with Baxter's core strengths, create considerable new opportunities for growth.

"We expect to accelerate our future sales and earnings growth not only through continued emphasis on operational excellence and financial discipline, but also by leveraging our proprietary technology platforms and manufacturing capabilities, and by improving global access to health care," said Harry M. Jansen Kraemer, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer.

Baxter's chief financial officer, Brian Anderson, reiterated the company's financial commitments for 2002 and outlined its goals for future sales and earnings growth acceleration. The company's commitments for 2002 include sales growth in the low-teens, earnings per share growth in the mid-teens and operational cash flow of $500 million. Baxter's longer-term financial goals include accelerating sales growth from the low-teens to mid-teens, raising earnings per share growth from the mid-teens to high-teens, and increasing the amount of operational cash flow generated after capital expenditures from $500 million to over $700 million.

BioScience Continues Aggressive Growth Trends

At the conference, the company outlined plans for continued BioScience growth, including ongoing expansion of manufacturing capacity for plasma-derived and recombinant proteins and vaccines, as well as continued portfolio enhancement through internal research and development efforts, collaborations with partner companies and a broadened therapeutic focus.

Baxter announced its intention to further expand manufacturing capacity for recombinant Factor VIII (rFVIII) for the treatment of hemophilia A and other recombinant therapeutic proteins. In addition to three recombinant manufacturing suites already in operation at its Thousand Oaks, California, facility and a fourth on track for regulatory approval in late 2004, the company announced today that it plans to invest in a fifth suite for the processing of recombinant therapies at its multi-purpose manufacturing facility in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. With this additional suite at its Neuchâtel facility, Baxter will have a total of nine suites for production of recombinant Factor VIII therapy and other recombinant therapeutic proteins.

"With the investments we have made in expanding production capacity through additional suites and significant yield improvements, by 2005 we expect to produce a total of two-and-one-half billion units of recombinant Factor VIII therapy from just six out of our nine production suites," said Thomas Glanzmann, president of Baxter's BioScience business. This will allow Baxter the flexibility to produce either recombinant Factor VIII or other recombinant therapeutic proteins with the other three multipurpose suites in Neuchâtel.

Another significant growth opportunity is in vaccines, an area in which the company continues to invest in expanded manufacturing capacity, advance its proprietary vero-cell platform and meet important clinical and regulatory milestones. Earlier this week, Baxter announced the location of two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities for cell-culture derived and recombinant vaccines. The two facilities, located in Krems, Austria, and Bohumile, Czech Republic, will allow Baxter to produce approximately 42 million doses of InfluJect annually by 2006. Baxter recently received regulatory approval in the Netherlands for InfluJect, its novel influenza vaccine which is produced using Baxter's proprietary vero-cell technology. InfluJect clinical trials will be initiated this year in the United States, and a large-scale commercial launch is planned for Europe in 2004.

In reviewing Baxter's core technical competencies, Chief Scientific Officer Norbert Riedel highlighted the vero-cell technology and described how it offers significant benefits over other vaccine platforms by excluding any added proteins or raw materials derived from human or animal sources in the manufacture, purification and formulation of its vaccines. This technology has the potential to offer such advantages as a protein- and serum-free production medium, shorter production cycle, significantly higher yield and purity, and no antibiotics, egg proteins nor mercury-containing preservatives.

Also highlighted as an area of innovation was Baxter's technology program to enhance blood safety. Baxter, with its development partner Cerus Corporation, anticipates European regulatory approval of the INTERCEPT Platelet System in the first half of this year, with U.S. filing later in 2002. The companies are conducting Phase IIIc and III clinical trials in the US for the INTERCEPT Plasma System and Red Blood Cell System, respectively.

Medication Delivery's Technology Platforms Make it Partner of Choice

David Drohan, president of Baxter's Medication Delivery business, showcased the company's proprietary drug formulation, manufacturing, and container and delivery platforms that are used in partnership with clinicians and pharmaceutical companies to improve patient care and reduce health-care costs. Currently, the company has more than 40 agreements with pharmaceutical companies to formulate medications in a variety of delivery platforms that make injectable drugs easier, safer and more efficient to prepare, and has at least two dozen additional collaborations under development.

During the conference, Baxter executives also highlighted new technologies that will allow insoluble drugs to be formulated so that they can be administered to patients in an easier, more effective manner. One of the most challenging issues in the development of many pharmaceutical products is formulating a drug molecule so that it can be administered to patients -- more than one-third of drugs listed in the US Pharmacopoeia and about 50 percent of new drug molecules are insoluble. As a result, many drugs have sub-optimal formulations and many otherwise promising compounds never reach the market due to problems with insolubility. To help Baxter's pharmaceutical company partners solve problems with solubility, in 2001 Baxter expanded the company's capability to formulate new and existing drug entities with the launch of NanoEdge Technologies, a toolbox of manufacturing and formulation technologies that have been either internally developed or acquired through exclusive licensing agreements with other advanced drug delivery companies.

In addition, Baxter recently agreed to make an equity investment in Epic Therapeutics, a privately held, advanced drug delivery company located in Boston. Epic Therapeutics has developed a proprietary process for forming drug molecule proteins into microspheres for sustained release through various routes of administration, including inhalation and injection. Epic Therapeutics and Baxter's BioScience business recently initiated a research collaboration to explore the feasibility of applying Epic's technology, called ProMaxx™ Microsphere Technology, to novel ways of delivering proteins by such routes as intravenous release, inhalation and buccal delivery.

Renal Builds on Portfolio Across Continuum of Kidney Disease Treatment

Al Heller, president of Baxter's Renal business, highlighted a number of initiatives the company has successfully implemented to strengthen its renal therapy portfolio in addressing the entire continuum of care for patients with kidney disease.

Following its plans outlined at last year's growth conference to include renal pharmaceuticals in its integrated approach to therapy for people with end-stage renal failure, the company announced earlier today that it has reached an agreement in principle with Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for the co-promotion of Ferrlecit® in the United States. Ferrlecit (sodium ferric gluconate complex in sucrose injection) is a prescription IV iron product used for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia in chronic hemodialysis patients receiving supplemental epoetin therapy. The company also announced today a licensing agreement with PrisMedical Corporation for worldwide rights to sterile fluid technology for all renal applications. Baxter and PrisMedical will co-develop products based on PrisMedical's technology platform for producing sterile, dialysis-quality water at home or point-of-use, using existing potable water sources. In late 2001, Baxter acquired the rights to a proprietary recombinant erythropoieten for the treatment of anemia, which is already approved for sale in 15 countries outside the United States and Western Europe. The company continues to explore opportunities that will enable it to provide products to better manage uremic and dialysis-related complications, prevent or delay kidney disease progression and treat diseases of the kidney.

Heller also highlighted Baxter's broad portfolio of peritoneal and hemodialysis products, including Extraneal (7.5% icodextrin) peritoneal dialysis solution. Extraneal is targeted for US regulatory approval in 2002, following a recommendation for approval by the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late 2001. If approved by the FDA, Extraneal will be the first solution with a new osmotic agent introduced for peritoneal dialysis patients in the United States since 1978.

Summarizing the overall impact of the company's combined offerings and core technical competencies, Kraemer concluded, "Our complementary portfolio of biopharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and services creates unique opportunities for Baxter to introduce novel therapeutic approaches for some of the most challenging medical conditions facing patients and clinicians worldwide."

Baxter International Inc. 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 the areas of bioscience, medication delivery and renal therapy are used by health-care providers and their patients in more than 100 countries. Please visit the company's website at www.baxter.com for more information about Baxter (including the company's 2001 Annual Report), and to access a webcast of this Annual Growth Conference (which will be available live today and replayed until April 15).

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including technological advances in the medical field, product demand and market acceptance, the effect of economic conditions, actions of regulatory bodies, the impact of competitive products and pricing, foreign currency exchange rates and other risks detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by management of the company and are believed to be reasonable, though are inherently uncertain and difficult to predict. Actual results or experience could differ materially from the forward-looking statements.

(Baxter, Extraneal, InfluJect, INTERCEPT Blood System, INTERCEPT Platelet System, INTERCEPT Plasma System, INTERCEPT Red Blood Cell System and NanoEdge are trademarks of Baxter International Inc. and its affiliates. ProMaxx is a trademark of Epic Therapeutics, and Ferrlecit is a trademark of Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc.)

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

	Media Contacts: Deborah Spak, 847-948-2349 Sally Benjamin Young, 847-948-2304 Investor Contacts: Neville Jeharajah, 847-948-2875 Mary Kay Ladone, 847-948-3371