Baxter Unit Buys Heart-Lung Machines

The Irvine-based CardioVascular Group of Baxter Healthcare Corp. has acquired a line of heart-lung machines made by COBE CV of Denver.

The Baxter unit’s acquisition is an offshoot of another transaction in which Sorin Biomedica SpA acquired COBE CV. Sorin, an Italian conglomerate, agreed to divest COBE’s hear-lung machine business to satisfy U.S. antitrust regulators.

The COBE Century Heart Lung Machine has annual sales of about $10 million, Baxter executives said. Worldwide sales for such hardware, which is used in open-heart surgery, total about $40 million.

Baxter Healthcare, based in Deerfield, Ill., makes disposable products used to treat late-stage cardiovascular disease, including heart-valve therapies and monitoring systems. The company will decide within a year where to manufacture the Century, executives said.