Medical products company Baxter International cutting 3,500 to 4,000 more jobs

<br>CHICAGO (AP) _ Medical products company Baxter International Inc. said Thursday that it is cutting an additional 3,500 to 4,000 jobs, or 7 percent to 8 percent of its work force. <br><br>The announcement

Thursday, April 22nd 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) _ Medical products company Baxter International Inc. said Thursday that it is cutting an additional 3,500 to 4,000 jobs, or 7 percent to 8 percent of its work force.

The announcement came as the Deerfield, Ill.-based company, which has battled tough competition in some markets and seen profits sag, announced second-quarter earnings.

About half the positions to be eliminated are located outside the United States. Last July, the company had announced that it was eliminating 3,200 jobs.

Baxter said it also plans to reduce annual plasma production by 400,000 liters, or 13 percent, and close additional plasma collection centers.

It intends to take a second-quarter charge of $350 million to $400 million for costs associated with the job layoffs and facility closings.

The maker of blood-disease therapies has been under pressure to make changes after a series of weak quarters. The problems result from the struggles of its bioscience division, where stiff new competition for its blood-clotting drugs has sent industry prices down sharply and weighed on Baxter's profit margins.

The price turbulence also has prompted Baxter to issue a string of off-target earnings forecasts, falling short of Wall Street's expectations three times in the past year.

Chairman and CEO Harry Kraemer Jr. resigned in January amid the problems. His successor, named Monday, is Robert Parkinson, former president and chief operating officer of Abbott Laboratories. Parkinson, dean of Chicago's Loyola University School of Business Administration and its Graduate School of Business since 2002, takes over April 26.