Justice Department Investigating Baxter Over Saline Shortage
05 May 2017 - 9:20AM
Dow Jones News
By Bowdeya Tweh
The Department of Justice is probing Baxter International Inc.
as part of an investigation into whether large producers of saline
solutions and other injectable medicines colluded to create supply
shortages so they could benefit from higher prices.
Baxter said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it learned in
April about the Justice Department criminal probe and that a
federal grand jury in Pennsylvania had subpoenaed documents from
the company and an unnamed employee.
The subpoena called for Baxter to produce documents and
testimony regarding the "manufacturing, selling, pricing and
shortages of intravenous solutions and containers" sold by the
company in addition to "communications with competitors regarding
the same," the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission
filing.
Baxter wasn't immediately available for additional comment
Thursday.
The Deerfield, Ill., maker of renal and hospital products has
previously said it is cooperating with the New York attorney
general's office in its investigation of business practices in the
intravenous saline industry. It is also facing a complaint filed in
federal court in Illinois regarding industry practices.
In October 2015, four U.S. senators asked the Federal Trade
Commission to investigate whether companies were limiting supplies
of the key hospital staple, which had seen price increases between
200% and 300% since late 2013.
At the time, Baxter said it was working to boost saline supplies
and that the average U.S. selling price for a liter of its sterile
saline solution had risen annually in the single- to
low-double-digits on a percentage basis since 2013.
Shares of Baxter fell 0.6% to $55.65 in after-hours trading.
Write to Bowdeya Tweh at Bowdeya.Tweh@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 04, 2017 19:05 ET (23:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Baxter (NYSE:BAX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Baxter (NYSE:BAX)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024