U.S. airlifting Baxter supplies to stem IV shortage | Crain's Chicago Business

Katherine Davis is a health care reporter for Crain’s Chicago Business, covering hospitals, pharmaceutical makers, insurance providers, life sciences startups and public health. She joined Crain’s in 2021 from the American City Business Journals, where she reported on startups and venture capital for the Chicago Business Journal and Chicago Inno.

As production at a key medical supply plant owned by Baxter International remains paused, the federal government is helping the company airlift in critical medical supplies, with first flights arriving tomorrow.

Each flight will carry between 150,000 and 250,000 units of Baxter products, such as intravenous and peritoneal fluids, from its international facilities and will be expedited to health care providers across the U.S., according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services today.

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness & Response, or ASPR, will work with Baxter to get supplies to providers in less than a day in some cases, down from typical distribution timelines of five to 10 days.

Over the coming weeks, tens of millions of product units will be imported from at least four international facilities across Europe and Asia, HHS said. On Oct. 9, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration authorized Baxter to import intravenous solution and dialysis products from sites in Canada, China, Ireland and the U.K.

Airlifting in supplies is the latest move by Deerfield-based Baxter and the federal government to mitigate equipment shortages following the closure of Baxter’s North Cove manufacturing plant in Marion, N.C., after it sustained damage from Hurricane Helene. The plant, which is the largest manufacturer of intravenous and peritoneal dialysis solutions in the country, was flooded following rain and a storm surge.

The plant has been closed since Sept. 29, but progress on cleaning up the plant and restoring utilities, like water and electric, has been achieved faster than originally expected, Baxter said in a statement on its website yesterday. ASPR and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, are assisting Baxter with the infrastructure recovery.

Baxter’s goal is to restart production in phases by the end of the year, but it does not yet have a timeline for when production will be restored to pre-hurricane levels.

“The pace of recovery at Baxter’s North Cove facility has been very encouraging,” Baxter CEO José Almeida said in the statement. “Baxter remains steadfast in its commitment to minimize the impact of this disruption and to resuming normal production in North Cove as soon as possible.”

Despite the closure, Baxter has slowly resumed shipments of intravenous therapy products to hospitals and other customers but has limited direct customers and distributors to ordering only up to 60% of their usual volume. Customers should, however, expect a one- to two-week lag time, Baxter said.

The company has also asked health care providers to limit new patient sign-ups for home dialysis to children and other patients with specific medical needs.

Even still, Baxter said it has moved and distributed more than 450 truckloads of product made before the hurricane from the closed facility over the past 10 days. More than 2,500 employees have returned to work at the facility at levels nearing pre-hurricane staffing in round-the-clock shifts. To help employees impacted by the hurricane, Baxter is offering financial assistance and has established a support center near the plant that’s providing food, water, toiletries and other necessities.

Hospitals across the country, including those in Chicago, have reported shrinking supply runways since the Baxter plant closed. In response, many health systems have instituted various conservation and mitigation measures to optimize supply. In some cases, hospitals are moving patients from IVs to oral hydration methods.

Aside from helping Baxter boost product availability, the FDA on Oct. 11 also announced it added three IV solutions to its drug shortages database and is allowing hospital pharmacies and outsourcing pharmacies to make their own solutions. The FDA said the pharmacies may produce up to 5,000 units before having to adhere to federal product testing requirements and may make the solutions as long as the IV fluids remain on its shortage list.

Other IV fluid manufacturers, including B. Braun Medical, have increased production as well.

HHS said today that U.S. hospitals have 50% more product available to them now compared to right after the hurricane.

“These supply improvements, combined with increased output from other manufacturers, will help hospitals get more of the product they need over the coming weeks,” HHS said in the statement.

Katherine Davis is a health care reporter for Crain’s Chicago Business, covering hospitals, pharmaceutical makers, insurance providers, life sciences startups and public health. She joined Crain’s in 2021 from the American City Business Journals, where she reported on startups and venture capital for the Chicago Business Journal and Chicago Inno.

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