B. Braun's Florida facility largely unscathed as Hurricane Milton threatens to further upend supplies of critical IV fluids

As Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida Wednesday night, drugmakers, regulators, hospitals and health agencies alike have joined forces in a bid to preserve access to critical intravenous solutions.

Milton touched down near Siesta Key, Florida, midweek, marking the second major storm to sweep across the southeastern U.S. following Hurricane Helene in late September.

Helene, which proved especially devastating for communities in states like Florida, Tennessee, Virginia and North and South Carolina, prompted the temporary closure of Baxter International’s chief manufacturing facility in Marion, North Carolina, leading to widespread concerns over supply of IV fluids that Baxter provides to U.S. hospitals.

B. Braun—another major IV solutions maker—has pledged to step up in light of Baxter’s plant closure. However, in an unfortunate turn of events, the company’s IV facility in Daytona Beach, Florida, has found itself in Milton’s path.

Earlier this week, B. Braun said it would close its Daytona Beach plant and distribution center on Wednesday, with plans to restart operations at both sites on Friday. To safeguard supply of finished IV solution products, B. Braun said it’s been working in tandem with the U.S.’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to move inventory from the distribution center to a secure facility north of Florida.

Thankfully, B. Braun's Daytona beach plant and distribution center "were not seriously impacted" by Milton and will resume operations as planned on Friday morning, Alli Longenhagen, B. Braun's director of corporate communications, told Fierce Pharma Thursday afternoon. The company isn't aware of any reported injuries from its employees, though many of the company's workers are still without power, Longenhagen explained. 

B. Braun confirmed Friday morning that both Daytona Beach sites had reopened. 

B. Braun is positioning the Florida facility as a key part of its plan to address IV fluid shortages stemming from Baxter’s North Carolina plant shutdown.

As part of its work with ASPR, the company is taking “immediate steps” to boost production of crucial IV fluids from its plant in Irvine, California, and plans to leverage production at Daytona Beach once Hurricane Milton has dissipated.

Through its work with ASPR, B. Braun has successfully moved more than 60 truckloads of IV solution inventory from the Daytona Beach distribution center to a secure location and now plans to move the product back to the original site, Longenhagen added. 

"We are in daily contact with officials from ASPR, the Drug Shortage staff at CDER (Center for Drug Evaluation and Research) and the Department of Health and Human Services to address this issue and help alleviate any impact on patient care," she said. 

B. Braun’s Daytona Beach facility primarily produces injectable sodium chloride, which is used to replenish the body’s stores of water and salt, according to a recent hurricane situation report from the crisis-focused nonprofit Healthcare Ready.

B. Braun's efforts come after Baxter's biggest manufacturing facility, dubbed North Cove, in North Carolina suffered damages from Hurricane Helene.

Wednesday, Baxter said it aims to restart production at North Cove in phases and reach 90% to 100% of the amount of IV solution allocated to customers by the end of 2024.

According to the FDA, various doses of dextrose IV solution, sodium chloride solution and sterile water are currently in shortage, with the potential for the supply squeeze to be exacerbated until Baxter’s NC facility fully resumes operations.

With supply top of mind, the American Hospital Association (AHA) earlier this week asked the Biden administration to take action to boost supply of IV solutions for hospitals, including through the invocation of the Defense Production Act, Fierce Healthcare reported Tuesday.

The call to action comes as some hospitals reschedule nonemergency procedures in an effort to conserve limited stock of IV fluids.

Hospitals around the country that depend on Baxter’s products have been told to expect 40% of their normal shipments of IV solutions for the time being, The Hill reported Wednesday, citing comments from an AHA spokesperson.

"AHA appreciates Baxter’s efforts to increase production of the nation’s IV fluid supply including increasing allocations to 60% of normal orders - and for some products 70% or more," Roslyne Schulman, Director of Policy at AHA, said in an emailed statement. 

"We also acknowledge the hard work of other manufacturers to ramp up their production of these IV fluids and the efforts of the Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies to help meet the nation’s needs for these lifesaving and life sustaining fluids, including approving the movement of these products into the United States from international Baxter plants," Schulman added.

The FDA is weighing options like temporary imports and expedited reviews to help mitigate the IV supply crunch, The Hill pointed out in its report.

The FDA did not immediately respond to Fierce Pharma’s request for comment on the situation.

Beyond Baxter and B. Braun, many other pharma companies—including those with offices in Florida—are stepping up aid efforts to assist during the string of natural disasters.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Ph.D., said earlier this week that the New York-based pharma would take steps to preserve access to its drugs and meet urgent medical supply needs while also offering aid to groups like the American Red Cross.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s charitable arm, the Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Foundation, is also working with nonprofit partners like World Central Kitchen, Greater Good Charities, Direct Relief, Americares and Feeding America to help provide assistance to communities affected by the storm, a company spokesperson told Fierce Pharma Thursday.

Baxter, for its part, recently committed $1.5 million in donations to its own humanitarian aid partners to boost recovery efforts in the aftermath of Helene. 

Editor's note: This story was updated Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, at 11:03 a.m. to note that B. Braun's Daytona Beach manufacturing facility and distribution center have reopened.