Baxter restarts some production of IV solutions at largest plant

Modern Healthcare – Thursday, October 31, 2024
By Hayley DeSilva

Baxter International’s largest facility has restarted its highest-throughput manufacturing line for IV solutions in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Before hurricane-related damage led to the September shutdown of the company’s facility in Marion, North Carolina, the plant produced 60% of the IV solutions used daily in the U.S. It is still uncertain when it will fully reopen, the company said in a Thursday website update.

The newly restarted IV solutions manufacturing line is the only one back up, a spokesperson for Baxter said Thursday. The whole production process has been restarted for the line, the spokesperson said.

Before the hurricane, the line produced an estimated 50% of the facility’s one-liter IV solutions and 25% of the facility’s overall products.

“Initial batches will be manufactured concurrently with ongoing quality activities and would only be released in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements to ensure the quality and safety of the products,” the company said on the website.

Solutions are not expected to ship out from the facility until late November at the earliest.

The company began importing IV solutions and dialysis products earlier this month from some of its international facilities in Canada, China, Ireland and the U.K. to help with shortages at hospitals in the U.S. after receiving approval to do so from the Food and Drug Administration.

Nearly 90% of providers who responded to an October survey from Premier, a healthcare group purchasing organization, said they were experiencing an IV fluid shortage as a result of the plant’s closure.

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