Established since 1970 in Lessines, where it employs 1500 people, the American pharmaceutical group Baxter has confirmed its commitment to further strengthen ties with the region by investing €27 million, generating some 120 new direct jobs.

The Lessines site, where Baxter has two factories and a European distribution centre, has thus been confirmed, among other things, as the unique production centre for "Gammagard", a flagship product line of the group. The planned investments will allow the company to modernise existing facilities but to also simultaneously increase production of another line dedicated largely to the production of the bags used in dialysis treatment for patients with kidney disease.

The second investment phase is likely to concentrate on the construction of a combined heat and power generation unit on the site, allowing the company to significantly reduce its energy consumption. The plant produces 13,000 tonnes of plastic each year and some 800,000 bags for drips and dialysis each day.

The Baxter group also has a research and development centre in Nivelles (185 employees), and over 10 years has invested around €124 million in Wallonia. It employs 48,500 people worldwide and had a turnover of $12.3 billion in 2008. Last year it invested $868 million in R&D operations.


BENOIT JULY - LE SOIR -Wednesday 25 March 2009