Medtech titan Baxter (NYSE:BAX) is looking to hire 200 new workers to man its growing facility in Alabama as global demand grows for hemodialysis devices.
Baxter’s Opelika, Ala., manufacturing facility is getting a $300 million expansion in order to keep up with demand for the company’s dialyzers. The plant will get an extra 230,000 square feet and several new production lines, Baxter said.
The facility currently employs about 170 workers, and the new hiring program aims to add 200 more by 2016.
”Baxter’s expansion in Opelika will provide increased production of dialyzers, which are a critical component to the delivery of hemodialysis, a life-sustaining therapy for patients with end-stage renal disease,” Baxter chairman & CEO Robert Parkinson, Jr., said in prepared remarks. "In addition to supporting a greater number of patients having access to therapy, the expansion is an investment in the communities where our employees live and work.”
Dialysis devices filter blood for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) whose own kidneys aren’t able to clear out toxins. ESRD is increasing worldwide and the need for dialysis is expected to grow 6%-7% every year.
Baxter just suffered a setback in its dialysis products, recalling 2 lots of its peritoneal dialysis solution over concerns that the solution came into contact with contaminants during the manufacturing process. There have been no reports yet of injuries associated with the recall.
BAX shares were flat today, trading at $75.26 as of 12:40 p.m. EST.