Flooding triggered by Hurricane Helene hit a Baxter International plant in North Cove that makes much of the country’s supply of sterile intravenous, or IV, fluids, which are also used by some patients on home kidney dialysis.
Baxter had to close the factory, which it says is its largest manufacturing facility, employing more than 2,500 people. The company also started limiting the amount of supply customers could order, a restriction designed to prevent stockpiling and keep access equal.
Dr. Paul Biddinger of Mass General Brigham said this week that Baxter told the Massachusetts health system it would get about 40% of the supply it normally receives.
Hospitals may start making small changes for now to stretch supplies of IV fluids, which are used to keep patients hydrated and also to deliver medicine.
Biddinger said Mass General Brigham, which includes 12 hospitals, is giving some patients water or Gatorade instead of starting an IV. He added that anyone needing an IV can still get one, and the system’s clinical services are operating normally.
Hospitals may reschedule elective surgeries to conserve IV fluids, said Mike Ganio, who studies drug shortages at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. He added that they may also have nurses inject some medicines, like antibiotics, into patients with a syringe instead of using an IV. For those patients, Baxter is recommending that care providers review prescriptions to determine whether they can get by with less. The company also says delays to the start of dialysis should be considered.
As of Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had not declared any new shortages related to products made at Baxter’s plant.
However, experts see vulnerability in the supply chain. Bags of IV solutions take up a lot of space, and it’s expensive for hospitals to keep large stockpiles.
IV solutions also must be kept sterile and don’t have long shelf lives, Biddinger noted.
“Maintaining a large supply of things that expire quickly is actually pretty tricky,” he said.
Smaller hospitals may only have a few days of supply on hand, Ganio noted.
Baxter is looking at using other factories around the world to fill some of the supply gap.
The company also has some stored finished products that were not affected by the storm. However, access to their plant is limited because bridges to the site were damaged.
Ganio said other manufacturers also may be able to increase production. Baxter said last Thursday that damage was still being assessed and that there was no timeline yet for when the plant would resume operations.