2023-07-23 07:26:34
Pfizer said that the damage caused by the hurricane that hit eastern North Carolina, in the middle of the week, affected the storage facility of the company’s factory, and did not affect the drug production units.
Hurricane “F3”, on Wednesday, caused significant damage to a major pharmaceutical factory belonging to Pfizer, but the company confirmed that the losses affected a warehouse for raw materials, packaging supplies, and ready-made medicines destined for distribution, while no significant damage was recorded in the pharmaceutical manufacturing areas, or any injuries among the 3200 employees.
Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said employees are moving products to nearby storage locations to quickly replace raw materials lost in the storm.
The drugmaker said it was also exploring alternative manufacturing sites across its network in the United States to fill gaps in production, as the North Carolina site will remain closed for repairs.
And the Associated Press reported that the company’s ability to salvage production equipment and other essential materials could mitigate what experts fear would be a major blow to the drug system at a time when the United States is already grappling with shortages.
In this regard, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Calif said, Friday, “We do not expect that there will be any significant and immediate effects on supplies, given that the products are currently in hospitals and in distribution units.”
Calif said that the preliminary analysis of the US Food and Drug Administration reveals that the North Carolina plant, Fires, is the only source for the manufacture of about 10 drugs for the US market.
The factory also produces drugs for anesthesia and other drugs for surgeries, such as sterile syringes (8 percent of the total used in American hospitals), but it does not manufacture or store Corona virus vaccines, nor the Cominrate and Baxolovid treatments, which are also used in the treatment of Corona.
The US Food and Drug Administration said that in the coming days it will complete a more comprehensive assessment of the products that may be affected and the current local supply of these drugs, and Calif indicated that the destroyed drugs in the affected warehouse should be available in other Pfizer warehouses.
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