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Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on September 22, 2009, 01:59:27 PM
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Baxter lowers renal disease treatment cost
Rs 15,000 per month is all it will cost now
BS Reporter / Kolkata October 09, 2006
The occurence of end stage renal disease (ESRD) is on a rise in India.
Baxter India Private Limited, which already manufactures standard solution for peritoneal dialysis (PD), will shortly begin importing icodextrin solution from its Baxter's base in Singapore.
The company has recently obtained approval from the government of India to import the solution into the country.
While Baxter will scale up production of standard solution at its plant in Manesar over a period of four years, the cost of Icodextrin will be considerably higher till that time volumes will be encouraging enough to manufacture it in the country.
Currently the company has a patient base of close to 4,000 using Baxter products out of 5,000 patients in India who go in for continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).
Baxter expects to grow its patient base to 10,000 by 2010, informed Sanjiv Navangul, business unit director, Baxter India.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a workshop organised by Baxter for awareness generation on CAPD among city doctors.
The workshop was presided over by Dimitrios G Oreopoulos, considered to be the 'father' of CAPD.
The cost of CAPD has been brought down from Rs 30,000 a month to Rs 15,000 over a period of 10 years.
However, physicians and company officials present at the workshop cast serious doubt whether the treatment of dialysis could reach the masses due to its high cost and lack of medical coverage in the country.
"Unless the government subsidises or reimburses treatment cost, it is not possible for every patient in this country to avail of the services of medication and treatment for this disease," Oreopoulos said.
Baxter has not yet firmed up details about the volume of import or the pricing for Icodextrin.
However, it can be used in place of one of the four packets of standard solutions that a patient needs per day for CAPD.
The polyglucose solution, which is not absorbed by the human body, is expected to help maintain the osmotic balance in the patient's blood.
Baxter enjoys 80 per cent market share in the diabetes solution market in India and the company had a turnover of Rs 250 crore last year across divisions.
With the introduction of Icodextrin, product name Extraneal, and with PD enjoying a compounded annual growth rate of 24 per cent in India, the company is hopeful of higher profits in the future.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/baxter-lowers-renal-disease-treatment-cost/261072/