Baxter, a health care solutions manufacturer headquartered in Illinois, has been making progress on reopening one of its largest factories after it was forced to close in late September due to flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.
The company last week said it had restarted its highest-throughput IV solutions manufacturing line at North Cove, its manufacturing facility located in North Carolina. 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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Now Baxter said it expects to restart a second IV solutions manufacturing line in the coming week.
“Together with the line restarted last week, these two lines represent – at their peak operation (prior to Hurricane Helene) – approximately 50% of the site’s total production and approximately 85% of the site’s production of one-liter IV solutions,” the company wrote in an update. “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.”
Baxter again warned that the earliest that new North Cove product could start to ship is late November, which is ahead of the company’s original expectations. While the company expects all production lines will be restarted by the end of the year, it still doesn’t have a clear timeline for when North Cove will be returned to its full, pre-hurricane capacity.
The plant, which employs more than 2,500 people and focuses primarily on making intravenous and peritoneal dialysis solutions, has been partially closed for more than a month. Despite the disruption to operations, the company said there was no structural damage to the factory.