A trio of Baltimore institutions are forming partnerships with Baxter International

Fortune 500 healthcare company Baxter International is planning to partner with a trio of Baltimore organizations.

The Chicago-based company plans to work with Johns Hopkins University, LifeBridge Health and the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

“New ideas can come from anywhere, which is why we look for partnerships that can drive innovation as early as the discovery process,” said Sumant Ramachandra, senior VP and chief science and technology officer at Baxter, in a statement. “We’re excited to partner with these world-class institutions in Maryland to advance innovation that can improve delivery of patient care.”

At the international conference BIO 2019 in Philly this week, executives from the company met with Maryland Secretary of Commerce Kelly Schulz, which followed up meetings between Baxter and state commerce officials at last year’s biotech convention. In the past year, the company’s team has toured the state and met with local partners, according to Maryland’s commerce department.

Baxter formed a collaboration with Johns Hopkins through the Center of Bioengineering Innovation and Design. Baxter will provide support in the form of mentoring and funding as biomedical engineering students are working on commercially viable ideas that could help patients undergoing surgery. The company will also have a chance to license technology developed through that work.

The LifeBridge healthcare system, which operations institutions such as Sinai Hospital in North Baltimore, will work with the company on ideas to improve patient care that can be piloted and researched. It’s another sign of partnership from LifeBridge’s innovation team, which is teaming with CareFirst to engage startups.

Baxter is also exploring opportunities to partner with companies at UMB and elsewhere that are headquartered at the University of Maryland BioPark, which is a central home in the city for medical device and life sciences companies developed from university research, and beyond.

“It is exciting that Baxter is working with three of Maryland’s world renowned university and health care institutions to advance surgical outcomes for patients,” Schulz said in a statement. “These collaborations have very promising potential, and our team at Commerce looks forward to working closely with Baxter to ensure their success here in Maryland.”

It’s the second piece of Commerce news to come out of BIO 2019. Yesterday, the department also said it inked an international partnership with the U.K.’s Midlands region to partner on life sciences.