Sale of Baxter Unit Idles Half Its Workers

Baxter International has sold its Irvine-based Interventional Cardiology unit to Guidant Corp., idling 70 to 80 employees.

In the deal, Guidant, an Indianapolis-based medical device maker, bought certain assets of the Irvine company, which makes products for diagnosing and treating coronary artery disease. A Baxter spokeswoman said 60 to 70 of the unit’s 140 employees were transferred to jobs elsewhere in the corporation and the rest were laid off. Some may be offered jobs at Guidant, a Guidant spokesman said.

The sale resolves a federal lawsuit that Baxter filed two years ago against a Guidant subsidiary in Santa Clara, alleging patent infringement, a Guidant spokesman said. He didn’t elaborate.