Baxter Austria

Baxter Austria is the Austrian branch with the European headquarters of Baxter International , a US company with global operations in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors . Austria is the largest Baxter site and the largest Baxter BioScience research site worldwide.

As one of the largest research and manufacturing companies, the company is an important factor in the Austrian economy .

The importance of Baxter Austria is based on the takeover of Immuno AG , which was an important company in Austria until then. Before that, Baxter Austria, like most foreign representations, was only a sales company of the Baxter Group. The Immuno AG dealt with the fractionation of human plasma , a vaccine against TBE and the production of fibrin glue . Immuno was involved as a manufacturer in the blood scandal with HIV-infected factor VIII preparation in the 1980s. Factor VIII is required by haemophiles (hemophiliacs) to increase their blood clotting.

organization

Baxter in Orth on the Danube

In Austria, Baxter is legally divided into three companies:

• Baxter AG with headquarters in Vienna and 2,800 employees
• Baxter Innovations GmbH with around 900 employees in research with locations in Vienna and Orth an der Donau
• Baxter Healthcare GmbH based in Vienna with 80 employees, which is only responsible for supplying pharmaceuticals to the Austrian market.

BioScience division

International research in the BioScience division is also managed from Austria. This division is engaged in the manufacture of drugs from human plasma for the treatment of blood clotting disorders , immune system disorders and other diseases. Bioscience also produces substances for hemostasis, wound closure and tissue regeneration as well as vaccines . 80 percent of all Baxter BioScience products are wholly or partially manufactured in Austria.

Production in Austria

Baxter produces in Vienna and Orth an der Donau for 94 countries. 22 products are manufactured in Austria, 18 of them from human plasma. For this purpose, Baxter put one of the world's largest plants for the separation of plasma components into operation in Vienna in 2009 . Medicines are produced here from around 1.7 million liters of human plasma every year. The system works more effectively than previous fractionation systems.

Vaccines

Vaccines against TBE, various forms of influenza and meningococci have been produced since the development under Immuno AG. Instead of using as originally vaccine production chicken eggs, come now cell lines the Green Monkey apply.

history

In 1953 the chemists Johann Eibl , Otto Schwarz and the physiologist Wilhelm Auerswald founded the first Austrian institute for hemoderivatives in Vienna. This institute was the cornerstone for what would later become Immuno AG. Immuno AG, founded in 1960, set up Europe's first plasmapheresis center in Vienna in 1966 . This was followed by more in Austria in 1990.

After the Linz virologist Christian Kunz developed a vaccine against TBE , Immuno AG began series production in 1976. As a result, Austria not only developed the serum, but also became the country with the highest vaccination coverage at 87%.

An essential invention was the fibrin glue developed by the chemist Thomas Seelich at Immuno and first approved in 1978 , which revolutionized the surgical technique.

In 1996 the physician Martha Eibl , the wife of Johann Eibl, was the first scientist during her lifetime to be awarded the "Red Lily of Florence for services to humanity and science". Eibl, who had also been a professor at the Institute for Immunology at the University of Vienna since 1980, was the head of HIV vaccine development. In 1997 she received the " Cross of Honor for Science and Art, 1st Class ". Your employer, Immuno AG, infected haemophilia (hemophiliacs) with HIV-contaminated factor VIII preparations in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1996, Baxter AG, which previously had only one sales office in Austria, acquired shares in the already existing Swiss Immuno Group for around 175 million dollars in a three-stage plan and merged with it to form Immuno-Baxter. At that time, Immuno AG generated sales of around 4.4 billion Austrian Schillings (320 million euros) with 3,500 employees worldwide. Also in 1997, Immuno achieved 90% of sales in exports with over 2,000 employees of the 4.5 billion schillings caused only by the shrinking financial year.

In 2002, Baxter established a new production site worth around 200 million euros in Krems for the manufacture of an influenza vaccine. 40 million euros were invested, but the business never went into operation due to setbacks in research.

While Baxter reduced the approximately 100 research centers worldwide to just a few in 2003, the Vienna Center was further expanded and was able to prevail against Singapore, Berlin and Alsace. In addition to the basis that Immuno has already laid, the cooperation with the University of Vienna was also decisive. While the center in Vienna deals with drugs against inflammation, infections, thromboses or lung diseases, Orth was planned to focus on biomedical research.

Even if the production plant in Krems was not realized, research with the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems was intensified and new products developed for faster wound healing.

Since 1958, Immuno has also been working closely with the Higher Federal Teaching and Research Institute for the Chemical Industry . 450 graduates from this school alone are employed by Baxter.

In 1999, when Baxter-Immuno Vertriebs GmbH was renamed Baxter-Vertriebs GmbH, the name Immuno completely disappeared from the last of the companies in the Baxter Group.

The plant in Krems , which was built in 2002 but never went into operation, was subjected to an examination of its further usability in the course of 2013. The partial expansion was announced in autumn 2013: “In the first expansion stage, a production line is initially planned, and there is sufficient space for possible future expansions. The investment volume is estimated at 138 million euros. The start of construction is planned for the first quarter of 2014. "

criticism

Laboratory animal husbandry

The company was often mentioned in public in connection with the monkey house in the former Gänserndorf safari park , because monkeys from the time under Immuno AG, which were kept for research purposes, were housed there.

After it was also ordered in the USA that chimpanzees should not be killed after animal experiments but should only be housed in rescue centers, Baxter Austria also concluded a contract with the safari park in 2001 for the costs of the 150 monkeys, 45 of them chimpanzees Adopt animals by 2012. For this purpose, a monkey house was built under the scientific direction of Jane Goodall .

Trouble arose when the safari park went bankrupt in 2004 and the future of the monkeys was uncertain. These chimpanzees have been taken over at Gut Aiderbichl since 2010 .

Laboratory error in vaccine development

In early 2009, experimental vaccine contaminated with avian influenza H5N1 viruses was shipped from Baxter Austria to several European laboratories. The more dangerous A / H5N1 subtype of influenza virus has been mixed with the more harmless A / H3N2 subtype of seasonal influenza . When test animals died in a laboratory in the Czech Republic, the mix-up was discovered. Employees who came into contact with the samples received prophylactic antiviral treatment. Baxter issued a statement to the authorities regarding the course of the accident. The Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care carried out an inspection of the production facility and the material was destroyed.

HIV-contaminated blood products

In the 1970s and 1980s, Immuno AG's factor VIII products were not sufficiently virus-inactivated. This is why hemophiles were infected with HIV using this drug. The blood scandal was the subject of an investigation commission of the German Bundestag (Drucksache 12/8591)

literature

• Athineos Philippu: History and work of the pharmacological, clinical-pharmacological and toxicological institutes in German-speaking countries , page 769 Pharmacology and toxicology at Immuno and Baxter ISBN 3-85093-180-3

Web links

Commons : Baxter Austria  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry on Immuno AG in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Entry on Baxter AG in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Web presence Baxter Austria

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} 100-year school anniversary: ​​Baxter and HBLVA Rosensteingasse can look back on 50 years of successful cooperation ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 10, 2010  
2. ↑ R&D Baxter BioScience ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 10, 2010  
3. ↑ Baxter in Austria ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 10, 2010  
4. ↑ Plasmapheresis in Austria ( Memento of the original dated August 29, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 25, 2015 
5. ^ In the poisonous belly of the wooden goat in Der Standard print edition, MedStandard of April 18, 2006 page 19
6. ↑ "I wanted to do something useful" ( Memento from November 1, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) in the Wiener Zeitung from June 2, 2000
7. ↑ This honor of the city of Florence is for merits of humanity and science .....  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from 3/1997, accessed November 9, 2010.  
8. ↑ Der Standard, print edition of December 19, 1996, Wissenschaft, page 22
9. ↑ Der Standard, print edition of April 26, 1997, Wissenschaft
10. ↑ Baxter International To Acquire Immuno AG in the pharmaletter of September 9, 1996, accessed November 8, 2010.
11. ↑ Company profile of Immuno ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 8, 2010 from IBM  
12. ↑ Baxter's daughter Immuno strengthens the back in the standard of December 4, 1998 page 21
13. ↑ Baxter fixes major investment in Krems in the press of March 12, 2002, accessed on October 8, 2010.
14. ↑ http://diepresse.com/home/wirtschaft/economist/331493/Neue-Seren-und-Impfstoffe_Baxter-baut-Forschung-aus New serums and vaccines: Baxter expands research in the press on September 20, 2009, accessed on November 8, 2010.
15. ↑ Vienna made the race for a research center of the group in the press on November 27, 2010, accessed on November 8, 2010.
16. ↑ Research cooperation with Baxter: Innovations for faster wound healing at FH Krems by Christoph Wiesner, accessed on November 8, 2010
17. ↑ Baxter Healthcare GmbH ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in FirmenABC.at accessed on November 11, 2010  
18. ↑ baxter.at: Health company Baxter invests in pharmaceutical production in Krems ( Memento of the original from May 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on May 6, 2014  
19. ↑ Torture or Research in Emma , March / April 2009, accessed November 8, 2010.
20. ^ Affenhaus Gänserndorf , accessed on November 8, 2010.
21. ↑ ^{a b} Federal Ministry of Health, query response by Federal Minister Alois Stöger, May 20, 2009, GZ: BMG-11001/0067-I / 5/2009
22. ↑ laboratory incident through contaminated with H5N1 flu vaccine at pr-inside of 22 February 2009 called on November 11 of 2010.
23. ↑ No bird flu case in Vienna. Press release of the Vienna Hospital Association, February 11, 2009
24. ↑ Focus Magazin 10/2009: Pharmaceutical company supplies bird flu viruses. Retrieved October 20, 2010 . 
25. ↑ Wirtschaftsblatt, March 4, 2009: Bird flu breakdown at Baxter. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016 ; Retrieved October 20, 2010 . 
26. ↑ Press release of the Science Forum Avian Influenza of February 22, 2009. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 23, 2014 ; Retrieved October 20, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.