Pfizer’s troubled McPherson fill-finish plant evacuated again for bomb threat

Pfizer’s troubled Kansas fill-finish plant was evacuated for the second time in a year after a bomb threat at the manufacturing facility. The site was evacuated last June after another bomb threat was reported.

The McPherson County Sheriff's Office said emergency crews were called to the facility at 9 a.m. Monday, including bomb-sniffing dogs, CBS affiliate KWCH-12 reported. No bomb materials were found on the site and operations at the plant resumed Monday night.

The facility, which is a Hospira legacy plant, has been dogged with regulatory problems. In February, the FDA released a document from the last inspection of the plant that showed it continued to struggle, even repeating issues the agency pointed out in a previous visit.

The eight-page Form 483 from an October 2017 inspection indicated that of 10 observations the FDA noted, four were repeats from issues inspectors had seen in earlier visits. The agency’s frustration over the fact that it has pointed out similar issues at a number of Pfizer's legacy Hospira plants for years is what led the FDA to send Pfizer a scathing warning letter last year.

Pfizer has said it is working to resolve the regulatory issues. The FDA’s concerns have included insufficient investigation of customer complaints and taking weeks to report out-of-specification results for products instead of the required three days.