Baxter, a medical equipment supplier that produces 60% of the intravenous solutions at US hospitals, said Thursday it has slowly begun to recover from a hurricane-induced shutdown last month that has sparked shortages at medical facilities nationwide.
US hospitals in recent weeks have been forced to delay surgeries and even give patients Gatorade or water because of a lack of intravenous solutions that was sparked by flooding caused by Hurricane Helene that shut down Baxter’s key factory in North Carolina.
The company said on Thursday that its highest-throughput line has now restarted, but added that the earliest the new batch of IV solutions could ship is late November due to the need to adhere to “applicable regulatory requirements to ensure the quality and safety of the products.”
“We do not yet have a timeline for when we expect North Cove production to be fully restored to pre-hurricane levels,” the company said in a statement.
Before flooding forced Baxter to suspend operations at the North Cove, NC facility, the key manufacturing line it has now restarted accounted for around 25% of the site’s total production and approximately 50% of the production of one-liter IV solutions used by hospitals and clinics.
Flooding triggered by Helene washed out bridges nearby and water came into the factory, forcing the shutdown. Baxter says the site sustained no structural damage.
The company recently restored power and water to the factory. Employees also recently completed a deep cleaning in production rooms and are testing and repairing equipment.
Health systems started conserving fluids shortly after the plant shut down.
Some switched patients who can drink fluids to Gatorade or water instead of giving them an IV.
Hospitals also have started postponing planned procedures that can wait, like some orthopedic surgeries or heart procedures, said Dr. Chris DeRienzo, chief physician executive for the American Hospital Association.
Baxter has limited the fluids supplies it sends to distributors and health systems.
The impact on a patient will depend partly on how heavily a hospital or health system relies on Baxter, said Nancy Foster, a vice president with the hospital association.
In light of the shortage, the Food and Drug Administration has approved temporarily importing fluids from Baxter plants in several countries.
The company also has already started easing some of the limits it had placed on supplies.
Baxter rival B. Braun Medical has increased production at its Daytona Beach, Fla. site, which escaped damage from another hurricane, and at a location in California.
The FDA also issued new temporary guidelines designed to make it easier for compounding pharmacies to produce certain IV drugs that are in short supply.
Supply experts are optimistic that the situation will improve, but they can’t say whether these moves will fill the void left by the plant shutdown.
Erin Fox, associate chief pharmacy officer at University of Utah Health, said her health system is still dealing with uncertainty because the amount Baxter has allocated to them isn’t always available through their distributor.
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