By Meg Tirrell, John Bonifield and Brenda Goodman
Pfizer has warned hospitals of “continued and new supply disruptions” after a EF-3 Tornado damaged the Rocky Mount, North Carolina, plant.
The pharmaceutical company sent a note to its clients on Friday informing them that it had 30 products available for less than three-months’ stock. This included certain dosages for epinephrine, which is used for allergy reactions and severe pain. It also mentioned fentanyl, which can be used for severe pain.
The company, in a letter seen by CNN to inform customers of the current situation and help them plan their patient care for the future, wrote: “As a result this weather event we have identified subsets of Rocky Mount products manufactured by NDC which could experience new or continuing supply disruptions within the next few months.” The subset of products is determined by Pfizer’s share in the market and stock levels at wholesalers or distribution centers with less than three-months’ supply.
Pfizer said that the inventory level of three months represents an excess of caution and is not indicative of any production restart estimate. Pfizer did not know exactly when production would be resumed at this facility.
Among these products, 15 medications are listed as FDA shortages. Experts in supply chains are worried that closing the factory will increase an already historically high drug shortage. Erin Fox said, however, that Pfizer list was not a concern to her. She is an associate chief pharmacy officers for shared service at University of Utah Health, and she tracks the shortages.
Fox wrote to CNN that, while the situation may get worse at some point in time, we won’t have to face it for long, as Pfizer informed us. Organizations have managed the shortages of many of these drugs.
Pfizer has, according to FDA regulations, placed many products on strict allocation to prevent hoarding and ensure the availability of the product to people in need.
According to contractual agreements, it could result in localized supply interruptions.
Pfizer, in a letter sent to its customers, said that as the company learns from its site evaluation it will update its information.
According to manufacturers, since the damage was more on a storage facility than an actual production line, shortages would not be as severe as they would be if all drug manufacturing had been shut down.
This plant, located in the east of the state on more than 250 acres, has over 1.4 million sq. ft. of production space. As such, it is one of the biggest manufacturers of sterile injection drugs.
Fox has said it will take some time to rebuild the site, but that is good because the production line was not damaged. It seems that if there was to be a major tornado, then this is the most likely scenario.
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