Base of the Pyramid

A key aspect of Baxter’s approach to expand access to healthcare is developing product and business model innovations targeted at those at the “base of the pyramid” (BoP), the approximately 4 billion people worldwide who each live on less than $1,500 annually and have limited access to the healthcare market.

In 2011, Baxter continued its collaboration with Dr. Stu Hart from Cornell University, and the Enterprise for a Sustainable World (ESW). Baxter's Base of the Pyramid (BOP) team, composed of company representatives from environmental health and safety, ethics and compliance, research and development, manufacturing, and commercial leads from the Medical Products and BioScience businesses, hired representatives from ESW to interview 30 Baxter business leaders from around the world to understand where and how the company is currently selling products in regions with high BoP representation or has technology well suited for use in the BoP. To identify future opportunities and approaches in this area, the team also began a review of the company’s emerging technology portfolio.