Pfizer Plant Damage May Cause Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Shortages

July 21, 2023 - A Tornado in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, caused significant damage to a Pfizer manufacturing plant. Experts predict that medication and pharmaceutical supply chain shortages are imminent. The company announced the damage to the facility via Twitter on July 19, 2023, at 6:32 PM EST. Personnel in the facility were able to evacuate using an established safety protocol.

The National Weather Service of Raleigh, NC, revealed that the storm spanned from 12:25 to 12:58 PM across a 16.5-mile-long path and a 600-yard-wide distance. The 150 MPH winds yielded a tornado classification of EF-3. 

The weather service emphasized that this was the first recorded tornado of that severity in North Carolina in July. The National Weather Service in Newport/Morehead City, NC, notes that the state’s tornado season typically runs between March and May, accounting for an average of 31 tornados annually.

According to the company website, the Rocky Mount facility is one of 10 manufacturing sites in the United States. Across the country, Pfizer has manufacturing plants and two distribution facilities employing roughly 10,000 individuals.

The Rocky Mount facility is 1.4 million square feet of manufacturing space, making it one of the most extensive sterile injectable facilities domestically and globally. It is estimated to employ 4,500 people who manage its 24 filling lines and 22 packing lines.

“I’ve got reports of 50,000 pallets of medicine that are strewn across the facility and damaged through the rain and the wind,” said Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone, according to the Washington Post.

While the company has not quantified the projected production impacts, experts predict that supply chain shortages are coming. “We are assessing the situation to determine the impact on production. Our thoughts are with our colleagues, our patients, and the community as we rebuild from this weather incident,” the manufacturer tweeted.

The manufacturing facility produces roughly 400 million units annually, accounting for 35% of all hospital sterile injections in the US. It also exports to multiple countries, including Canada, Japan, and more.

Some products produced here include anesthesia, analgesia, therapeutic injectables, anti-infectives, and neuromuscular blockers packaged in vials, syringes, IV bags, or semi-rigid bottles.

Despite the damage to this facility, Pfizer’s McPherson, Kansas, facility may also scale production to produce additional sterile injectables, as it is one of the only other domestic facilities capable of doing so.

In the coming weeks, hospitals and healthcare facilities that supply products from Pfizer should expect shortages and delays in production. “From a health care practitioner point of view, I’m just holding my breath,” Michael Ganio, a senior director at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, told the New York Times.

Even before this disaster, Pfizer, like many other pharmaceutical manufacturers, was experiencing supply chain shortages. This disaster is only expected to exacerbate the issue, potentially causing unfavorable health outcomes.

According to the Times, Chanapa Tantibanchachai, a spokeswoman for the FDA, said, “We are following the situation closely as it evolves and are working with the company to understand the extent of the damage and any potential impact to the nation’s drug supply.”

Aside from emphasizing fallacies in the US pharmaceutical supply chain, this disaster shows yet another way climate change can negatively affect human health. Although it is challenging to quantify climate change’s impact on tornados, National Geographic notes that researchers can analyze how climate changes impact warm, moist air, atmospheric stability, and wind shear — all components of supercell storms that produce tornados.

While researchers have not found a clear causational link between climate change and tornado frequency, as global temperatures rise, weather organizations have found that tornado events are becoming more clustered. A geographical shift has also been identified, with fewer tornados in Tornado Alley and more in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Aside from exacerbating infectious diseases and allergies, impacting lung function, and contributing to higher rates of heat-related illness, climate change continues to increase the probability of severe weather conditions, such as tornados. Beyond long-term health conditions, extreme weather can often result in injury. For example, this tornado caused 16 injuries, 2 of which were life-threatening.

Adding to the direct health impacts of climate change, structural damage to pharmaceutical manufacturers or healthcare facilities may result in drug shortages, delayed access to care, and compromised quality of care.