Baxter's North Carolina Plant Recovery Underway After Hurricane Flooding, Starts Product Imports

Benzinga · 10/15 17:05

On Monday, Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) said over 1,000 employees came back to work last week after the North Cove facility was shut down following significant damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

Additionally, more than 1,000 remediation contractors are on site to assist with cleanup and recovery.

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This week, the company expects 3,000 people to contribute to recovery efforts, nearly two-thirds of whom are Baxter employees.

Baxter noted that the primary focus is deep cleaning the facility, including floors and equipment, and assessing the condition of all equipment and production lines.

The first temporary bridge has already allowed the transportation of over 350 truckloads of finished products, enabling customer shipments to resume.

The dialysis device maker began shipments of intravenous products to the United States from two international facilities last week.

Last week, the FDA said it is working to temporarily import some products in shortage. The FDA allowed product imports from five facilities in Canada, China, Ireland, and the U.K., and it was working to secure authorization for more sites.

As shared earlier, Baxter aims to restart North Cove production in phases by the end of this year but did not share the timeline for fully restoring production to pre-hurricane levels.

North Cove is Baxter’s largest facility and is responsible for manufacturing approximately 60% of IV fluids and peritoneal dialysis solutions available to healthcare providers in the U.S.

Shipments to the U.S. from two Baxter sites that could already export products started last week, and more shipments are coming.

Price Action: BAX stock is up 0.41% at $37.06 at the last check Tuesday.

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