Baxter expects to restart IV fluids line at hurricane-hit plant within next week

Bengaluru: Medical device maker Baxter said on Thursday it expects to restart the highest-throughput intravenous solutions manufacturing line at a hurricane-hit plant in North Carolina within the next week.

The temporary closure last month of the Marion site, which makes 60% of the nation's supply of IV fluids and peritoneal dialysis solutions as per the American Hospital Association, had triggered a shortage of intravenous products. "I am encouraged by reports that Baxter anticipates restarting the highest throughput manufacturing line at Baxter's North Cove facility next week - sooner than originally expected," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.

Baxter also said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had authorized temporary imports from the company's two other manufacturing facilities, in Thailand and Singapore, as it works to bring the North Carolina plant back online.

Earlier this week, the company said it aimed to restore the number of new patients who can start using its peritoneal dialysis solutions to pre-Hurricane Helene levels by the end of the year.

Baxter has said it targets to return to 90% to 100% allocation of certain IV solutions by the end of 2024. (Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Sriraj Kalluvila)