Baxter International Inc. will split into two companies, one focused on developing biotechnology and pharmaceutical products and one that sells medical products.

Baxter Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Parkinson, Jr. will serve in those roles at the medical-products company, which will retain the Baxter International name, the Deerfield, Illinois-based company said today in a statement. Ludwig N. Hantson will be CEO of the pharmaceutical company, which will be named later, Baxter said.

The transaction, to be completed by the middle of next year, follows the split of Abbott Laboratories into two companies last year. Baxter’s drug business had about $6 billion in 2013 revenue, while the medical-products division had sales of $9 billion.

“Baxter has an established history of executing successful spinoffs, and we have continued to evaluate the separation of these two businesses in response to diverging business dynamics and the rapidly changing macro-environment,” Parkinson said in the statement.