Medical manufacturer Baxter has been steadily working on restoring operations at its North Cove facility in North Carolina. The plant, which is one of the largest producers of IV fluid in the U.S., has been closed down since late September when Hurricane Helene caused extensively flooding in North Carolina. Now, the company said it’s bringing back one of its busiest production lines.
Baxter today said it has restarted the highest-throughput IV solutions manufacturing line at North Cove. The line represented approximately 25% of the site’s total production and approximately 50% of the site’s production of one-liter IV solutions, the most commonly used size by hospitals and clinics, during peak production prior to the Hurricane Helene.
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The company said 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.
“It is important to note that the earliest that new North Cove product could start to ship is late November. This is ahead of our original expectations and a testament to the urgency, diligence and resiliency of the North Cove and broader Baxter teams as we’ve worked to accelerate recovery, with the coordination of FDA, ASPR and HHS,” the company wrote in an update.
Baxter said it still doesn’t have a timeline for when it expects production at North Cove, which didn’t sustain any structural damage during the storm, to be fully restored to pre-hurricane levels. The plant employs more than 2,500 people and focuses primarily on making intravenous and peritoneal dialysis solutions.