Hospital Supply Firm Opens New Facility

Baxter Healthcare Corp., one of the world’s largest hospital supply firms, has opened a 100,000-square-foot building in Newbury Park where it plans to package and ship a medication used in treating hemophiliacs.

By the end of next year, Baxter hopes to use the new plant to manufacture the biotechnology product, which replaces an element lacking in hemophiliacs’ blood.

The product is now being produced under license by an outside supplier, according to Johan Vandersande, vice president for manufacturing operations of Baxter’s Highland Division.

A small staff is now working at the new facility on Rancho Conejo Boulevard, conducting test runs preparatory to seeking Food and Drug Administration approval for the plant.

“Eventually, however, we may have hundreds of people working there,” Vandersande said. “We hope to produce several products at that location.”

Baxter, based in Deerfield, Ill., has annual sales of more than $8 billion. The Highland unit, which manufactures intravenous products, is headquartered in Glendale.