Milton spares Daytona Beach, Florida, factory that's a critical supplier of IV fluids

[October 11, 2024]  By TOM MURPHY

A Florida factory that makes IV fluids critical to hospitals nationwide will restart Friday morning after shutting down while Hurricane Milton tore through the state.

B. Braun Medical's manufacturing site and distribution center in Daytona Beach were not seriously impacted by the hurricane, said company spokesperson Allison Longenhagen. No injuries to employees have been reported.

The company, with help from the federal government, had moved more than 60 truckloads of IV solutions inventory north of Florida before the storm. Longenhagen said that will they will be returned to the distribution site.

The federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response helped coordinate trucks and drivers for the temporary move, which involved nearly 1.5 million bags of solution, a representative said Thursday.

The factory is seen as an important source of sterile intravenous, or IV, fluid supplies that had grown tight after Hurricane Helene hit Florida and several other states late last month. That storm forced Baxter International to shut down a North Carolina factory that makes about 60% of the country’s IV fluid supply.

That plant also makes fluids used by patients on home kidney dialysis.

Baxter started limiting customer orders after that storm to stretch supplies. Health systems, in turn, also started to conserve IV fluids and delay some non-emergency surgeries.

A nurse hooks up an IV to a flu patient at Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, Ga., Feb. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Baxter said Wednesday that it was increasing production at other locations and easing some limits it had placed on customer orders. The company also said in a statement posted on its website that it was working with the federal government to temporarily import products.

Baxter aims to restart production at its North Carolina plant in phases by the end of the year and possibly end limits for certain IV solutions by then too.

In the meantime, the company said its limits would help curb stockpiling and increase equitable access.

B. Braun has said its Daytona Beach site was a key part of its plan to address the shutdown of Baxter’s North Carolina location. B. Braun also said it also was increasing production at a factory in Irvine, California.
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