DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX), a global leader in nutrition therapy, announced today the expansion of its nutrition care portfolio to include the new enteral ENFit® syringe and accessory line for patients requiring tube feeding. Baxter’s enteral ENFit syringes are designed to improve patient safety during enteral nutrition (EN) therapy by preventing misconnections or wrong-route administration, which can cause severe patient injury.
Baxter is initiating a global introduction of ENFit enteral syringes, debuting the new portfolio in the United States during the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition’s (ASPEN) Clinical Nutrition Week (CNW) conference, Feb. 18-21, Orlando, Fla.
“Nutrition support therapy is a critical part of patient care, particularly in hospital settings where we know malnutrition is related to longer hospital stays, and higher mortality and readmission rates,” said Scott Luce, general manager, U.S. Hospital Products, Baxter. “Ensuring patients have safe access to nutrition therapy was Baxter’s driving focus in expanding our global nutrition portfolio with enteral ENFit syringes that help prevent wrong-route administration.”
EN therapy delivers vital nutrients, including protein, carbohydrates, fats, water, minerals and vitamins directly to the patient’s intestinal tract via a tube. ENFit syringes are designed with a connector that securely locks to the patient’s EN tubing set and a tip to prevent misconnections that result in a wrong-route administration. Tubing misconnections occur when EN feeding bags, tubes or syringes are connected to non-enteral devices, such as intravenous lines and ventilator tubing.
Baxter’s enteral ENFit syringes are designed in seven sizes (ranging from 0.5 mL - 60 mL), to support the needs of neonate to adult patients. The low-dose tip was especially designed to reduce dead space, ensuring accurate delivery of small doses. Baxter also is offering enteral syringe accessories that include five pharmacy bottle caps to facilitate filling, one tip cap to facilitate transportation and one transition connector.
ENFit was designed to the new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 80369-3 certification that was developed in collaboration with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), professional organizations, and clinicians around the world.
Baxter plans to launch its enteral ENFit syringes and accessories in the United States, Canada, select European countries, Australia and New Zealand in 2017.
Combating Disease-Related Malnutrition
Baxter recently partnered with the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to co-author two new statistical briefs – “Characteristics of Hospital Stays Involving Malnutrition” and “All-Cause Readmissions Following Hospital Stays for Patients With Malnutrition” – about the often overlooked consequences of disease-related malnutrition.
The new data characterizes the impact of malnutrition in U.S. hospitalized patients in human and economic costs – concluding malnutrition is associated with an up to five times higher risk of in-hospital deaths, may result in two times longer hospital stays, creates an estimated $42 billion1 burden to the healthcare system and is associated with a more than 50 percent higher rate of readmission within 30 days2 .
To foster scientific exchange on the issue of malnutrition in the hospital setting, Baxter provided an education grant to support the Clinical Nutrition Week symposium, “Guidelines and Goal-directed Nutritional Therapy in Critically Ill Patients,” to be held on Feb. 20, at 6:15 a.m. The CME (continuing medical education) symposium will be presented by nutrition researchers, Daren Heyland, M.D., Kingston, Ontario, Canada and Claude Pichard, M.D., PhD, Geneva, Switzerland, who will discuss nutrition risk assessment and practical application of support to reduce malnutrition in critically ill, hospitalized patients.
About Baxter's Nutrition Business
Baxter has been assisting clinicians in treating patients' diverse nutrient needs since the 1940s, when the company first introduced liquid proteins in the form of amino acids. Since then, Baxter has continued to advance parenteral nutrition (PN) therapy. As an example, Baxter pioneered the world's first "triple-chamber system" internationally for IV nutrition, which provides many of the essential ingredients of balanced nutrition – protein, carbohydrates, lipids and electrolytes in a single container – simplifying the preparation of PN for patients. Today, Baxter provides one of the broadest PN portfolios globally, which includes premix IV solutions, vitamins and lipids, as well as pharmacy workflow management, labeling, compounding technology and enteral nutrition syringes and accessories.
Rx only. For safe and proper use of the devices mentioned herein, refer to the complete Instructions for Use.
About Baxter
Baxter provides a broad portfolio of essential renal and hospital products, including home, acute and in-center dialysis; sterile IV solutions; infusion systems and devices; parenteral nutrition; biosurgery products and anesthetics; and pharmacy automation, software and services. The company’s global footprint and the critical nature of its products and services play a key role in expanding access to healthcare in emerging and developed countries. Baxter’s employees worldwide are building upon the company’s rich heritage of medical breakthroughs to advance the next generation of healthcare innovations that enable patient care.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes forward-looking statements concerning Baxter's enteral ENFit syringes and accessories, including expectations regarding the planned launches of such products, their potential impact on patients and benefits associated with their use. The statements are based on assumptions about many important factors, including the following, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: satisfaction of regulatory and other requirements; actions of regulatory bodies and other governmental authorities; product quality, manufacturing or supply issues; patient safety issues; changes in law and regulations; and other risks identified in Baxter's most recent filing on Form 10-K and other SEC filings, all of which are available on Baxter's website. Baxter does not undertake to update its forward-looking statements.
Baxter is a registered trademark of Baxter International Inc.
ENFit
is a registered trademark of Global Enteral Device Supplier Association,
Inc.
1 Weiss AJ, et al. Characteristics of Hospital Stays
Involving Malnutrition, 2013. HCUP Statistical Brief #210.
2
Fingar K, et al. All-Cause Readmissions Following Hospital Stays for
Patients With Malnutrition, 2013. HCUP Statistical Brief #218.
