LUPKIN: So they sent a letter to health care providers explaining that only the warehouse areas were damaged. Have they said anything at all about the situation? Pfizer declined my request for an interview, but Fox praised the company for its handling of the situation. But Pfizer shut that down fairly quickly by working with wholesalers to limit what hospitals could buy to no more than 100% of their usual orders. LUPKIN: They went overboard, and it resulted in some attempted hoarding. I spoke with Erin Fox, a pharmacy director for the University of Utah Health's hospitals.ĮRIN FOX: Every hospital buyer across the country - the second they heard about that tornado, everyone was just, like, buy, buy, buy, buy, buy (laughter). When a factory site like that goes down, it would have very serious implications, I imagine. KELLY: OK, so all kinds of things being made there. According to Pfizer, this site makes about 8% of all sterile injectables used in hospitals across the U.S. And there are also a lot of drugs like naloxone, which is used to reverse opioid overdoses, and vitamin K, which is used to prevent bleeding in newborns. But NPR was able to use records from the National Institutes of Health to compile a list of dozens of drugs that are made there, and they include a lot of painkillers and anesthetics that are used in hospitals and given intravenously. The information is often blacked out on FDA inspection records, for example. Companies are reluctant to disclose exactly what they make where. So I have to say that it's not easy information to figure out. So what was being made at this Pfizer facility? Tell me more. NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin has obtained records that show what was being made at this Pfizer facility and who might be affected by the damage. It could mean more drug shortages in a year that has already seen scarcity of Adderall and amoxicillin and chemotherapy drugs and more. OK, to a different extreme weather event - tornadoes, and specifically the tornado that ripped through a critical Pfizer factory in Rocky Mount, N.C., last week.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |