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As hospitals struggle with IV fluid shortage, NC plant restarts production

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The western North Carolina plant that makes 60 percent of the country’s intravenous fluid supply has restarted its highest-producing manufacturing line after being ravaged by flooding brought by Hurricane Helene last month.

While it’s an encouraging sign of recovery as hospitals nationwide struggle with shortages of fluids, supply is still likely to remain tight for the coming weeks.

IV fluid maker Baxter Inc, which runs the Marion plant inundated by Helene, said Thursday that the restarted production line could produce, at peak, 25 percent of the plant’s total production and about 50 percent of the plant’s production of one-liter IV solutions, the product most commonly used by hospitals and clinics.

“Recovery progress at our North Cove site continues to be very encouraging,” Baxter CEO and President José Almeida said. “In a matter of weeks, our team has advanced from the depths of Hurricane Helene’s impact to restarting our highest-throughput manufacturing line. This is a pivotal milestone, but more hard work remains as we work to return the plant to full production.”

Overall, Baxter said it is ahead of its previously projected timeline for getting the massive plant back up and running. Previously, the company said it had aimed to produce 90–100 percent of some products by the end of the year. Still, the initial batches now under production are expected to start shipping in late November at the earliest.

One of the many challenges to restoring the facility was the lack of access to the site; Helene had damaged an access bridge. In its latest announcement, Baxter said that a temporary bridge—built with support from North Carolina’s Department of Transportation and the federal Administration of Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR)—has allowed the transport of more than 885 truckloads of existing inventory out of the plant since Helene.  A second temporary bridge, expected to be completed in early November, will enable further access of traffic and equipment to the site.

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Over 86% of surveyed health care providers are short on IV fluids

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Trucks and Gatorade

Federal officials, meanwhile, are working with Baxter to help support increasing supplies, setting up temporary imports, and expediting consideration of any shelf-life extension requests.

In a letter earlier this week, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told health care leaders that the department is “working tirelessly to mitigate the sterile solutions supply chain disruptions” and, beyond the current crisis, is also working to diversify the supply chain so it is less reliant on a single plant.

For now, though, “HHS is encouraging all providers and health systems, regardless of whether they have experienced a disruption in their supply, to take measures to conserve these critical products,” the letter read. Some hospitals have already reported giving patients Gatorade and Pedialyte to conserve IV fluid supplies.

In one bright spot in the current disruptions, fears that Hurricane Milton would disrupt another IV fluid manufacturing plant in Florida were not realized this week. B. Braun Medical’s manufacturing site in Daytona Beach was not seriously impacted by the storm, the company announced, and production resumed normally Friday. Prior to the storm, with the help of the federal government, B. Braun reportedly moved more than 60 truckloads of IV fluid inventory north of Florida for safekeeping. That inventory will be returned to the Daytona facility, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

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Helene ravaged the NC plant that makes 60% of the country’s IV fluid supply

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Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic damage and flooding to the Southeastern states may affect the country’s medical supply chain.

Hospitals nationwide are bracing for a possible shortage of essential intravenous fluids after the cataclysmic storm inundated a vital manufacturing plant in North Carolina.

The plant is Baxter International’s North Cove manufacturing facility in Marion, which is about 35 miles northeast of Asheville. Helene unleashed unprecedented amounts of rain throughout the western part of the state, killing dozens and ravaging numerous communities, homes, and other structures, including the plant.

The North Cove plant produces 60 percent of the country’s supply of IV solutions, typically producing 1.5 million bags per day, according to the American Hospital Association. The dozens of sterile solutions Baxter makes at the facility are used for everything from intravenous rehydration and drug delivery to peritoneal dialysis used to treat kidney failure.

“Our hearts and thoughts are with all those affected by Hurricane Helene,” Baxter CEO José Almeida said in a statement on September 29. “The safety of our employees, their families, and the communities in which we operate remains our utmost concern, and we are committed to helping ensure reliable supply of products to patients. Remediation efforts are already underway, and we will spare no resource—human or financial—to resume production and help ensure patients and providers have the products they need.”

Critical supply

On October 2, Mass General Brigham, Massachusetts’ largest hospital and health care system, warned employees via email of a “serious and immediate IV fluid shortage,” according to the Boston Globe.

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