The weighing rooms are being rebuilt to add more safety features at a Pliva drug manufacturing facility in Zagreb, Croatia, where an explosion March 16 killed one worker and injured 8 others.
Tamara Susanj Sulentic, communications director, said in an email to FiercePharmaManufacturing today that the plant, which makes oral medications, will be restarted soon and is expected to be at full production again in a few weeks. "It is therefore possible to expect minor supply issues on solid oral forms in the next months until the production comes back to full capacity," she said.
Pliva, the largest pharmaceutical company in Croatia with 6,000 employees, is owned by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries ($TEVA). In addition to making 80% of Pliva's pharmaceuticals for Croatia, the FDA-approved plant manufactures significant amounts of active ingredients for other Teva drugs. The facility also has research and development operations for pharmaceuticals sold on the European market.
The plant is one of a number at the Zagreb site and all others are functioning, she said. The cause of the fire that ignited production mixtures on the 5th floor of the building was officially "established as a rare form" of electrostatic discharge, she said.