Baxter Begins Airlifting IV Fluid Products Over Weekend, Predicts Supply Will Normalize by End of Year

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provided updates on efforts to restore the nation's IV fluid supply following Hurricanes Helene and Milton. HHS noted the following:

• Hospitals have 50% more product available to them now compared to right after the hurricane.
• Baxter has begun importing IV fluids from its foreign plants and distributing products from its North Carolina facility that were manufactured prior to Hurricane Helene. HHS says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “acted quickly to conduct scientific and regulatory assessments to help facilitate the temporary importation of 23 different IV and peritoneal fluids from five Baxter facilities around the world.”
  • IV imports from Baxter international facilities will be airlifted into the United States beginning on Oct. 19. The shipments will include tens of millions of units of product, HHS says.
  • These imported products will be distributed through normal channels in accordance with Baxter’s projected allocations.
  • The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) will be assisting to reduce distribution time from five to 10 days to less than a day in some cases.
• Baxter expects to restore customer allocations to 90-100% of historical levels by the end of the year.
  • Work continues to reopen Baxter’s Marion facility, with “employees returning to work across multiple round-the-clock shifts, during which they are focused on site remediation and equipment assessment efforts.”
  • The building remains structurally sound and “phased testing of priority equipment will soon support resumption of line operations in phases.”
  • A new bridge to the facility has already opened, due to expedited work from ASPR coordinated with Federal Emergency Management Agency leadership and the Army Corp of Engineers.

To improve IV solutions access, FDA has committed to providing regulatory discretion to increase supply available to the United States and has allowed for compounding flexibilities in its “immediate-implementation guidance which provides additional flexibilities, including the removal of the 24-hour rule for hospitals and health systems, to support more timely production and distribution of certain compounded IV solutions by hospitals and other facilities during the shortage.”

Until supply fully recovers, mitigation and conservation efforts will remain critical to patient access.  Resources to assist members in these efforts include:

• ASHP’s updated guidance on managing IV fluid shortages and our Drug Shortages Resource Center for additional information on current shortages and for resources to assist you in managing and conserving inventory at your practice site
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health Advisory concerning supply disruption of peritoneal dialysis and IV fluids, which summarizes shortage mitigation recommendations from ASHP, FDA, and ASPR
• Baxter’s clinical resources for managing fluid shortages

ASHP remains committed to ensuring members have the most up-to-date information on the availability of medications. We will continue to update members as additional information becomes available.