Amanda Pedersen 1

April 17, 2017

1 Min Read
Baxter Under Criminal Investigation for Possible Price Fixing

A Baxter employee has received a grand jury subpoena in connection with a criminal investigation into the company's IV saline business.

Amanda Pedersen

Baxter Inc.'s shares slipped Monday, the first trading day after the company disclosed Friday in an SEC filing that one of its employees has been subpoenaed in connection with a Department of Justice criminal investigation into the company's IV saline business.

In February, Baxter reported that the New York Attorney General's office wanted information regarding business practices in the IV saline industry. Now, a Baxter employee is being asked for documents and testimony related to the manufacturing, selling, pricing, and shortages of intravenous solutions and containers, including saline solutions and certain other injectable medicines that Baxter sells. The grand jury subpoena issued by the U.S. District Court of the Eastern Department of Pennsylvania also asks the employee to share communications with competitors in the industry.

Baxter said it is cooperating with the investigation. The company reports IV saline sales as part of its fluid systems segment, which raked in $2.3 billion last year, and accounted for about a quarter of Baxter's total sales.

During the company's fourth-quarter earnings call in February, CEO Joe Almeida reflected on his first year at Baxter. Almeida, former CEO of Covidien, seems to have flipped Baxter's company culture since he took over.

Baxter's shares slipped about 83% Monday, but has been bouncing back in afternoon trading. Even with the slight setback, the stock is up more than 18% for the year.

Amanda Pedersen is Qmed's news editor. Contact her at [email protected]

[Image courtesy of Pixabay]

Sign up for the QMED & MD+DI Daily newsletter.

You May Also Like