Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Despite heparin-recall woes earlier in the year, Pharmaceutical drug giant Baxter International announced that it had a 19 percent increase in third-quarter profits, according to a Baxter International press release.

Baxter International is the world’s largest maker of blood-disease treatments. The company also sells the blood thinner heparin, which last year was recalled after batches of the drug made in the company’s Chinese plant were found to have been contaminated. As a result, more than more than 80 people died and hundreds more were made ill after receiving the tainted heparin. At that time, Baxter was the largest heparin manufacturer, with $30 million in sales.

Most of the heparin sold in the U.S. is manufactured with ingredients made in China. China is the leading supplier of the drug largely because heparin is made from pig intestines and China has a much larger pig population, according to Natural News.

At least 12 lawsuits have been filed against Baxter by patients and family members of those who suffered ill effects of the tainted heparin. As yet, Baxter has not incurred any serious legal costs from the tainted heparin crisis, Natural News reports.

In its third-quarter report, Baxter International announced that its net income increased from $395 million to $472 million, or from 61 cents a share to 74 cents a share. Much of its profit increase is attributed to international sales of products that treat hemophilia and immune disorders.

The company is predicting continued sales growth of about 5 to 6 percent, and expects cash flow from operations to exceed $2.6 billion.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Heparin recall, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.