(Reuters) – Medical device maker Baxter said on Thursday it expects to restart the highest-throughput IV solutions manufacturing line at a hurricane-hit plant in North Carolina within the next week.
The plant’s temporary closure due to hurricane-related flooding last month caused a shortage of intravenous products, including saline and dialysis solutions, across the United States.
The company also said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had authorized temporary importation from two other Baxter manufacturing facilities, in Thailand and Singapore, as it works to bring the North Carolina plant back online.
Earlier this week, Baxter said it aims to restore the number of new patients who can start using its peritoneal dialysis solutions to pre-Hurricane Helene levels by the end of the year.
Baxter has said it aims to return to 90% to 100% allocation of certain IV solutions by the end of 2024.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
