Following the announcement of Baxter to hire 2,000 employees as demand for its medical devices surge;

Dara Lo, Medical Device Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“GlobalData expects Q1 2020 earnings for Baxter to show an increase above expected projections – an impressive feat as most medical device companies are experiencing decreases and withdrawing their financial year 2020 guidance due to the negative industry impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Baxter manufactures life-saving blood purification systems regularly used in acute chronic and kidney conditions. The demand for these medical devices has surged due to the influx of COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care in hospitals.

“GlobalData’s Jobs Analytics Tool shows that Baxter’s job postings nearly tripled between February and March 2020, which is in-line with the company experiencing a significant increase in demand. Baxter announced that it will be hiring 2,000 new employees, 800 of which will be in the US, to meet this demand. In addition, all Baxter facilities manufacturing these products are maximizing production levels and increasing access to air freight capacity, as well as the frequency of transporting devices and medicines between the US and Europe. This so-called ‘air bridge’ will aid the company in getting more of its products to hospitals as quickly as possible.

“Despite the US’ efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19, the country continues to lead in number of daily new cases, with six times the number of new cases over the second-leading country, Spain. These numbers indicate the high need for continued supply of essential, life-saving medical devices, such as the ones being produced by Baxter.”