Drug maker Pfizer officially confirmed that over 30 of its drugs may see supply disruption after a tornado destroyed a warehouse at its Rocky Mount plant in North Carolina last week.
Pfizer’s Rocky Mount facility makes hospital-oriented drugs, such as anesthetics, painkillers, medicines that treat infections, and drugs needed for surgeries.
Late last week, the company alerted its hospital customers by mail that the supply of a number of drugs may be impacted in the coming period.
The letter included a list of around 64 different formulations of more than 30 drugs produced at the plant. In addition, limitations have been placed on the quantities of those medications Pfizer’s customers can buy.
The company said the list was “based on Pfizer market share and inventory levels of less than 3 months across our Pfizer distribution centers and the wholesale chain.”
The tornado that struck the site on Wednesday completely destroyed the warehouse, but production facilities there do not seem to have suffered major damage, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said last week, dispelling earlier fears of long-term drug shortages from health officials.
“Anyone who is aware of this event is basically holding their collective breath at this point, hoping for the best and waiting for news,” Michael Ganio of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists told The Epoch Times when the news first broke.
The Rocky Mount plant is one of the largest factories for sterile injectable medicines in the world. Nearly 25 percent of Pfizer’s sterile injectables used in U.S. hospitals are produced there.
According to Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone, early reports mentioned that the warehouse contained 50,000 pallets of medicine when its roof collapsed, although the exact number has not been confirmed.
When it was confirmed that the damage to the manufacturing area of the plant was minimal, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday that it didn’t anticipate major shortages in drug manufacturing.
An early FDA analysis found fewer than 10 drugs for which Pfizer’s North Carolina plant is the sole source for the U.S. market.
Still, the warehouse collapse may have repercussions. Mr. Ganio said many of the drugs on Pfizer’s list are already facing shortages.
“It’s very likely hospitals and health systems have already begun managing those shortages or have strategies in place to manage them,” he said. “So hopefully, there will be minimal impact.”
No serious injuries were reported due to the collapse of the warehouse.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
