BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC (BAX)

Baxter International Inc. is a global healthcare company, incorporated under Delaware law in 1931, that provides a broad portfolio of essential healthcare products through its subsidiaries. These include sterile intravenous (IV) solutions, infusion systems and devices, parenteral nutrition therapies, inhaled anesthetics, generic injectable pharmaceuticals, surgical hemostat and sealant products, advanced surgical equipment, smart bed systems, patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies, and respiratory health devices. After the sale of its Kidney Care business, it manufactures products in over 20 countries and sells them in over 100 countries. It also completed the sale of its BioPharma Solutions business in September 2023.

The company reports three segments. Medical Products & Therapies covers sterile IV solutions, infusion systems, administration sets, parenteral nutrition therapies, and surgical hemostat, sealant and adhesion prevention products. Healthcare Systems & Technologies covers connected care solutions and collaboration tools, including smart bed systems, patient monitoring systems and diagnostic technologies, respiratory health devices, and advanced surgical equipment such as operating room integration technologies and precision positioning devices. Pharmaceuticals covers specialty injectable pharmaceuticals, inhaled anesthetics and drug compounding services. The Kidney Care business, now Vantive Health LLC, was sold to Carlyle on January 31, 2025 for about $3.80 billion in cash and is reported as discontinued operations. Strategy centers on connected care and core therapy offerings, active portfolio management, deleveraging, and a streamlined operating model adopted in 2023.

Customers include hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, ambulatory surgery centers, doctors' offices, kidney dialysis centers, and patients at home under physician supervision. A significant portion of revenue comes from outside the United States, with operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Canada. Products are sold through a direct sales force, independent distributors, drug wholesalers acting as sales agents, and specialty pharmacy or other alternate site providers. In the U.S., third parties such as Cardinal Health and Medline warehouse and ship a significant portion of products. Many U.S. hospitals buy through group purchasing organizations and integrated delivery networks, and the company has purchasing agreements with several major GPOs. Sales are often made under contracts that may run longer than one year and limit price increases.

Raw materials and components come from numerous suppliers worldwide, though some come from single-source suppliers or on a spot basis, and the company has experienced supply shortages. Research and development spending was $518 million in 2025, with R&D centers in Belgium, India, Italy, Malta and the United States. Baxter relies on patents, trademarks and trade secrets, and its products are subject to extensive regulation by agencies such as the FDA, EMA, MHRA, Health Canada and China's NMPA. No single company competes with it in all of its businesses, but it faces substantial competition in each segment from international and domestic healthcare, medical products and pharmaceutical companies, and customer and competitor consolidation creates pricing pressure. It employed approximately 37,500 people as of December 31, 2025.