Supporting the Drug Supply Following the Recent Tornado in North Carolina

To our customers and supply chain partners

July 21, 2023

In the wake of the tornado damage to a Pfizer injectables plant in North Carolina on Wednesday July 19, 2023, Fresenius Kabi activated its emergency response team and is in contact with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Drug Shortage Staff (DSS) to help prevent and mitigate potential disruptions to the supply chain of essential medicines.  We have also offered assistance to Pfizer, and we wish them and their employees a smooth and safe recovery of their operations.

We work routinely with DSS on issues like this.  FDA will take the lead in assessing the potential impact on supply and guiding us and other manufacturers on how best to respond.  We are committed to offer as much assistance as possible, in coordination with the agency and our supply chain partners and customers.  We stand ready to increase production of medicines, if needed.

Please know, however, that it is still very early in this developing situation.  An assessment by FDA of the impact on drug supply is ongoing.

As the second largest supplier of injectable medicines in the U.S., we are committed to doing everything in our power to support you.  You too can help by continuing to order as usual and avoiding the temptation to “panic buy” in anticipation of shortages.  This can exacerbate supply disruptions unnecessarily.

We operate an advanced manufacturing and logistics network in the U.S. for essential medicines, and we have an international network of FDA-approved manufacturing sites as well.  In the U.S., we operate three manufacturing sites for injectable medicines in vials and prefilled syringes and we have logistics centers in the East, Midwest and Western United States.

Our Customer Service team, which is based in Illinois, is available to assist you, as are our wholesaler partners.  We are offering extended Customer Service hours, reachable at (888) 386-1300, or customerservice.USA@fresenius-kabi.com, from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 pm Central Time Monday through Friday.  Product availability reports, as usual, are updated weekly and accessible on our website here.

At Fresenius Kabi, our caring for life purpose is to put lifesaving medicines and technologies in the hands of people who care for patients, and to find answers to the challenges they face.  Never is this purpose more important than during times like this. 

If we can be of help or support to you, please let us know.