Baxter Healthcare SA
Baxter
Baxter’s mission to save and sustain lives inspires our work and our commitment to deliver products and services that are essential building blocks of healthcare.
ID: 84050217165-45
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Olivér Várhelyi (Commissioner) and
29 Sept 2025 · Challenges related safe medicines supply
Meeting with Patricia Reilly (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen)
29 Sept 2025 · to follow
Meeting with Patricia Reilly (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen)
29 Sept 2025 · exchange on critical needs for EU crisis preparedness
Meeting with Florika Fink-Hooijer (Director-General Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority)
29 Sept 2025 · Presentation of the company
Meeting with Frances Fitzgerald (Member of the European Parliament)
3 May 2023 · Pharmaceutical Strategy
Meeting with Sara Cerdas (Member of the European Parliament)
30 Sept 2022 · Impact of F-Gas Regulation on Anesthetic Gases like desflurane and sevoflurane
Response to Review of EU rules on fluorinated greenhouse gases
28 Jun 2022
Baxter is a leading global pharmaceutical & medical device company committed to delivering life-saving and sustaining products. We have been working with clinicians and hospitals across Europe for years to provide anaesthetic agents (inhaled & intravenous) that allow clinical treatment to be tailored to specific patient needs.
We are fully committed to sustainability and support the overall objectives of the new F-gas proposal. Because of our understanding for both the clinical benefits and the environmental challenges posed by inhaled anaesthetic gases, Baxter, since early 2020 has partnered with a third-party to pilot an Anesthetic Gas Capture system that can capture 99% of the patient’s exhaled gas in the operating room (Baxter DoF, 2022). We believe the use of gas capture technology offers the most effective solution to achieving the EC goals to protect the environment without compromising patient care and consider a ban of desflurane as disproportionate and potentially detrimental to public health.
Firstly, there is no universal anesthetic agent that suits the needs of all patients. Anesthesiologists recommend the best anesthesia option for each patient, depending on state of health, other medical conditions and the type of surgery; therefore protecting availability and choice of anaesthetic agents is important to maintain high quality therapeutic outcomes. Specifically, there are several clinical and therapeutic benefits for using desflurane and sevoflurane over other agents depending on the patient’s condition and procedural needs (eg. faster wake-up & extubation in obese (Liu 2015), elderly patient recovery (Chen 2015), myocardial protection (Bonanni 2020), operating room efficiency & hospital throughput (Agoliati 2010, Watchel 2011)). These specific needs underline that clinicians should be able to choose the best and safest drug combination for the patient.
Secondly, from the estimated 200 million anaesthetic procedures carried out globally every year, inhaled anaesthetics released into the environment have a climate impact of about 0.01% of the carbon dioxide released globally just from the burning of fossil fuels (Sulbaek Andersen 2012). Therefore, their elimination will provide negligible greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, but it will negatively affect anesthesiologist choice, and potentially patient safety and recovery.
Thirdly, total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA), the alternative to inhaled agents, is not without environmental burden: studies demonstrate that TIVA with Propofol may cause pollution of water sources (due to bioaccumulation and toxicity) and contribute to waste accumulation (single-use consumables), though its full impact needs further analysis (Mankes, 2012).
Finally, gas capture technology is a solution that achieves the proposal’s environmental goals whilst maintaining clinical choice and ensuring the availability of different anaesthetic agents. Baxter’s focus on sustainability prompted us to pilot gas capture in partnership with ZeoSys Medical GmbH. The gas capture technology is used in over 60 hospitals across Europe, where it is preventing more than 99% of the anaesthetic gas exhaled by the patient in the operating room from escaping to the atmosphere (Baxter DoF, 2022). An independent Life Cycle Assessment taking into account the climate footprint of the entire technology (eg. production, transport, gas recovery, etc.) demonstrates a 89% reduction in greenhouse emissions associated with gas capture (upon regulatory approval for reuse), compared to the baseline of venting gas to the atmosphere (Baxter DoF; Costelloe, 2022).
In conclusion, we believe that the Commission proposal should consider the implementation of new gas capture technologies with inhaled anaesthetics instead of potentially prohibiting a whole therapeutic option for anaesthesia that has clear medical benefits and addresses clinical needs.
Further details and all references can be found in the attached pdf submission.
Read full responseResponse to Recommendation for strengthened actions against antimicrobial resistance
14 Mar 2022
Clinical Surveillance Software use should be maximised in the fight against Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
Preventing infections, ensuring the right diagnosis early, and avoiding antimicrobials when they are not needed, can help stop the development and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Our recommendation is that electronic clinical surveillance software (CSS) solutions should be adopted by all healthcare facilities to support infection prevention and control efforts and facilitate improved antimicrobial stewardship (AMS).
“Without good surveillance, we cannot effectively counter the threat that antimicrobial resistance poses to health systems and people all over the world” Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare for Japan.
Clinical surveillance software has helped users deliver:
79% reduction in healthcare associated Surgical Site Infections
41% reduction in time spent on common daily Infection Prevention and Control tasks
90% reduction in time taken to identify patients for AMS rounds
18% reduction in overall antibiotic usage
43% reduction in use of broad-spectrum antibiotics
Electronic clinical surveillance technology centralises data from disparate systems using data integration capabilities, providing greater insight into infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship activities across an individual healthcare facility or group of facilities.
These data become actionable through the CSS which includes configurable workflows that provide users with the information they need when they need it — driving proactive intervention while informing gaps and opportunities for future improvements in patient care.
The insights provided by the CSS enables users to effectively prioritise patient cases and focus attention where it is needed most, helping to create efficiencies in patient care and allowing the facility to optimise its staff and resources.
CSS in Infection Prevention & Control: CSS solutions provide cross hospital electronic case management, immediate alerting of information relevant to the infection control and ward staff and in depth near-real time reporting. Immediate alerting of these scenarios ensures timely management of the infection event, resulting in better outcomes for the patient, reduced risk of onward transmission in the hospital or community setting and early identification of critical situations such as outbreaks.
CSS in AMS: Antibiotic prescribing is done based on the patient information available at that time, often via an ePrescribing system. Yet a patient’s condition, information and data constantly change. The CSS looks beyond the prescribing episode, and hence beyond the scope of the ePrescribing system. The CSS constantly reviews all patients, all related information and data post prescription and alerts the AMS team to focus their interventions in a timely manner. This enables a holistic approach to AMS and supports a wider reach across healthcare organisations.
References: Whatley V, Corbett K. (2017). Largescale communication of surgical site infections to improve patient safety and drive efficiency. Poster Patient Safety Congress 2017.
Simpson, D. (2010). An Evaluation of Time and Clinical Implications of an Automated Infection Prevention Surveillance System. Poster HIS 2010.
Lee et al., (2018). Surveillance Software and Prospective Audit and Feedback Rounds Advance Antimicrobial Stewardship at an Acute Care Community Hospital. Healthcare Quarterly, 20 (4)
Hughes S, Heard KL. (2018) The impact of a novel clinical decision support system on antimicrobial stewardship at an Acute NHS Teaching Hospital. Poster EAHP 2018.
Lee A, John S, Lovinsky R. (2017). Impact of an antibiotic stewardship audit and feedback program on a general internal medicine ward: a before and after study. Poster ECCMID 2017.
Read full responseResponse to Evaluation and revision of the general pharmaceutical legislation
27 Apr 2021
Baxter is a global healthcare company with a leading portfolio of critical care, nutrition, renal, hospital and surgical products and we are driven by our mission to save and sustain lives. We stand ready to partner with EU policy-makers during the on-going process to modernise the EU’s regulatory environment for pharmaceuticals.
We welcome measures that would reduce red tape, such as reducing regulatory approval times, costs and administrative burden, while providing the same high regulatory standards. In particular measures related to the implementation of ePI and virtual audits would be welcomed.
We agree that a single assessment process across Member States for active substance master of generics would facilitate the authorization process across the EU including life-cycle management. However, allowing regulatory authorities the possibility to adapt, on their own initiative, the terms of marketing authorisations on the basis of scientific evidence goes against the core principles of the single market and of regulatory simplification and industrial competitiveness, that the European Commission is pursuing, while infringing on manufacturers’ freedom to operate on the market.
We support measures to remove access barriers for generics, biosimilars and to optimise the development, reimbursement & access of value-added, ready-to-use intravenous (RTU IV) medicines. In particular, we believe RTU IVs can save valuable time in administration at the bedside and provide greater safety.
We need incentive strategies not focused on lowest cost, but on recognising value of innovative presentations of generics. While respecting countries’ competence in pricing, reimbursement & access decisions, we should consider other price setting mechanisms beyond ERP, such as competitive and dynamic price setting policies, would improve access by stimulating competition and creating incentives to encourage innovation. Procurement mechanisms should apply MEAT and security of supply as criteria, instead of only focusing on the lowest price as this goes against the principles and goals of re-shoring manufacturing in Europe and has in the past led to shortages of supplies due to unsustainable prices.
We recognise the need to ensure continued supply of critical medicines considering the pandemic. We believe that we already have a strong reporting and notification system in place to monitor and mitigate any possible shortages. However, imposing stronger obligations to supply and subsequent penalties will increase demands on manufacturers with no reward. Any stockpiling of medicinal products must be done rationally and sustainably: clear demand, financing and management of the stockpile, preventing strain on manufacturing capacity and supply ability. It is equally important to put in place the corresponding contractual & financing arrangements together with manufacturers, to maintain, manage and rotate stocks.
Supply chain flexibility and resilience should be achieved as part of a global approach, in collaboration with international partners and stakeholders following internal trade rules and obligations. Transparency of stock held (e.g. at manufacturer level) will not alleviate any issues. Partners in trade need to take their obligations to ensure supply seriously as it will be impossible to provide meaningful data in a fragmented real time multi-stakeholder environment. To alleviate future supply disruptions efficient scale-up of production can be achieved within a diverse global network.
Baxter believes the entire health value chain has a role to play in enhancing environmental sustainability of the production, use, disposal of medicines. We must ensure there are no unintended consequences due to the high levels of regulation that we operate under. It is important that EU waste legislation allows for easier collection, disposal, and recycling of used medicinal products (e.g. IV bags).
Read full responseResponse to Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan
3 Mar 2020
Baxter Healthcare welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to propose the EU Beating Cancer Action Plan. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death and contributes to 20% of the total disease burden in Europe1. Every country should have an effective National Cancer Control Plan to highlight cancer's importance, align efforts to fight cancer and allocate enough resources for prevention, treatment, and measures to improve quality of life and survival.
Although treatment innovations contribute to improved survival rates, the development of cancer related symptoms, such as malnutrition, remain important barriers to achieve the best outcomes2. According to a recent WHO report, cancer patients at all stages of their disease require supportive services for cancer symptoms.4
Malnutrition3 has been estimated to occur in 30 to 60% of cancer patients, depending on the diagnosis and disease stage. It is associated with poorer prognoses, including a greater likelihood of recurrence or death.4 Approximately 20–30% of cancer patients may die due to consequences of malnutrition, rather than cancer itself.5 Malnutrition can also lead to diminished tolerability of chemotherapy4, delays and modifications of costly anti-cancer treatments6, prolonged hospital stays and more frequent unscheduled readmissions.9
In addition to the patient impact, the financial impact of malnutrition on healthcare budgets has been estimated very high.7,8,9,10
Nevertheless, malnutrition often remains overlooked by healthcare professionals and patients and is untreated in about 50% of cases11 despite the clinical benefits of nutritional interventions that improve patent quality of life and allows the completion of anti-cancer treatment12 at a much lower cost to healthcare systems.
The WHO recommends that cancer related symptoms should be systematically evaluated and addressed.4 ESPEN guidelines recommend for nutritional screening in all cancer patients.13 Countries such as Scotland and the Netherlands established mandatory screening for malnutrition in cancer patients and more recently the Italian Ministry of Health published guidelines for the clinical nutrition treatment pathways for cancer patients.14
Even more so, there is mounting evidence that clinical nutrition interventions (such as intravenous nutrition) can be associated with decreased cancer therapy toxicity, and improved clinical outcomes and patient survival.15,16 Also, earlier interventions with clinical nutrition in cancer care can optimise hospital and healthcare resource use, as indicated by fewer and reduced hospital stays and readmissions17.
Nutritional care, including clinical nutrition, should become an integral part of cancer care pathways, so that patients can benefit from improved quality of life and have the best chances to survive. We call for a transformation of current oncology care models as follows:
• Ensure that nutritional screening is mandatory and performed at cancer diagnosis and throughout the treatment duration.
• In the context of reducing waste and inefficiencies in the healthcare systems, invest in supportive care interventions that resolve cancer related symptoms such as malnutrition and ensure that all patients across Europe have equal access to such interventions. Nutritional care should be recognised as integral to cancer treatment, for example in the European Guide on Quality Improvement in Comprehensive Cancer Control.
• Patients across the EU should be treated by multi-disciplinary care teams, that include nutritionists or dietitians.
• Healthcare professionals, patients and carers should be informed and educated about the added value of nutritional interventions and ask for appropriate clinical nutrition during treatment, if needed.
• The EU should support research projects to develop tools to better guide nutritional policies for oncology, ranging from digital monitoring solutions to real-world evidence collection mechanisms, in its Cancer Mission.
Read full responseMeeting with Annika Nowak (Cabinet of Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis)
26 Feb 2015 · Blood directive