NC tornado update: Pfizer CEO talks about recovery efforts, FDA says its working to prevent drug shortage

The Pfizer plant in Rocky Mount is one of Nash County's largest employers, employing more than 3,200 people.

Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone told WRAL News that 50,000 pallets of medicine were destroyed when the tornado hit Pfizer. The distribution and storage buildings were destroyed by the tornado, and more than 100 vehicles and storage trucks were damaged at the plant.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla discussed the company's plan to recover from the tornado.

Bourla started by saying he's grateful no one was hurt.

"A devastating tornado touched down here in the community of Rocky Mount in North Carolina, a town of more than 50,000 hard working people and the town where we have one of our best facilities here in the U.S.," he said at the press conference Friday. "We're dealing with a big disaster here, in terms of damages."

"Clearly nature is strong," Bourla said. "It is powerful, but so too is human ingenuity and human spirit."

"We are very inspired to see how this community is pulling together."

"We are supporting our local colleagues and we have made a commitment to pay everyone through the duration of the site's closure, relevant if they work or not," he said.

Bourla said Pfizer has made donations to the organizations working to help rebuild the community.

"Second, of course, we want to support the community," he said. "We are making financial donations to two organizations here, the American Red Cross of North Carolina and United Way River region. And we have also put in place one-to-one matching donation programs for colleagues around the world to support these organizations, and then will match everything that they will contribute -- in addition to what we are giving directly."

The company has also set up assistance programs for wellness and disaster recovery.

Although the production facilities didn't appear to be damaged, Bourla said the warehouse was almost completely destroyed. He said they are working to get the site up and running as quickly as possible.

"This is a very, very important site," he said. "90% of the production of the site is utilized in the United States."

"So it's a very, very highly useful and important facility for the U.S. health care system."

Bourla said it's important they are able to start manufacturing again.

He said crews are currently working to restore power at the site and engineers are working to assess the structural integrity of the buildings.

"Of course, we are moving full-speed to bring this manufacturing plant into action again," Bourla said.

Pfizer bought the eastern North Carolina factory in 2015 as part of its acquisition of the drugmaker Hospira.

There is more than 1.4 million square feet of manufacturing space, or the equivalent of more than 24 football fields, and 22 packaging lines.

According to Pfizer's website, this facility produces nearly 25% of Pfizer's sterile injectables for U.S. hospitals.

It’s not yet clear what impact the damage will have on distribution and availability of Pfizer products.

The North Carolina plant produces injectables — like drugs used in IV infusions or that are delivered under the skin or into patient muscles.

The plant makes anesthesia drugs, anti-infectives (that typically treat things like fungal infections) and drugs that temporarily paralyze muscles. The latter are used in surgeries or intensive care units for patients who are placed on ventilators, said Mike Ganio, who studies drug shortages at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

The company hasn’t said what happens next.

On Friday, WRAL News asked Bourla what medicines were at the Rocky Mount facility and what kind of shortages the U.S. could expect for those kinds of drugs.

"We are assessing the situation," Bourla said. "I don't think that we know right now what type of shortages we may have.

"Right now, there are at least six weeks of inventory out there ... so, I don't think we'll see anything in the next six weeks."

Bourla said the facility makes anesthetics, invectives, vitamins, micronutrients and part of the emergency kits used in emergency rooms.

"Our number one priority is to ensure that we will minimize supply disruptions for these medicines because they are important and they save lives," Bourla said.

Bourla said the company is looking into what it can do for contractors. He said company and area leaders understand contractors are also impacted by the plant's closure.

Drugmakers can shift manufacturing to other locations. But that can be complicated because they must reroute raw materials — usually made elsewhere — to other locations and may have to train workers to make a product.

Pfizer also may have to figure out whether to cut production of another product to squeeze in more manufacturing at the new site.

“It’s not always as easy as just flipping a switch to increase production,” Ganio said.

The FDA released a statement Friday with an update:

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working closely with Pfizer to assess the impact of the damage at Pfizer’s Rocky Mount, North Carolina, facility. Over the next few days, we will complete a more extensive assessment of the products that may be impacted and the current available supply of those products."

The FDA said it does not expect there to be any immediate significant impacts on supply. The administration said it is working "closely with partners in government, industry and the broader health care system to minimize impact on patient care."

The FDA said 8% of U.S. consumption is supplied by the Rocky Mount plant.

"Our initial analysis has identified less than 10 drugs for which Pfizer’s North Carolina plant is the sole source for the U.S. market," the FDA said in the statement. "However, a number of these are specific formulations for which there should be substitutes or for which many weeks’ worth of stock should be available in Pfizer’s other warehouses.

To reduce the risk of any shortages, the FDA said it has initiated mitigation steps, such as looking for additional sources and asking other manufacturers to prepare to ramp up production, if needed.

Erin Fox, senior pharmacy director at University of Utah Health, said there will likely be some long-term shortages while Pfizer shifts production to other locations or rebuilds.

But the specifics of which drugs might be involved in a shortage and how long that shortage will go on aren't clear.

“Anyone who is aware of this event is basically holding their collective breath at this point, hoping for the best and waiting for news,” Ganio said.

He noted that drugmakers tend to ship finished products quickly from manufacturing sites, which may limit how much inventory was damaged by the twister.

The facility will remain closed until further notice.

On Thursday, North Carolina Department of Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders was at the Pfizer plant to speak with company and local leaders. She also spoke Wednesday with Pfizer leaders after the tornado passed.

Several Department of Commerce teams are working with Pfizer and area leaders to assess the damage and make recovery plans.

"While we do not yet have a full assessment of the company’s operational situation, Commerce and the state will be proactive in our support for the company, the community and the impacted workers," a Department of Commerce spokesperson wrote in a statement. "We’ve already been in contact with the U.S. Department of Labor to explore all potential avenues for financial and other support resources."

On Thursday afternoon, a reporter asked Rocky Mount City Manager Keith Rogers Jr. how long it would take to repair the Pfizer building.

“No timeline on that from us right now, but we are communicating with Pfizer and we stand ready to support them in whatever they may need,” Rogers said.

State Rep. Allen Chesser, R-Nash County, visited the Pfizer plant on Thursday with House Speaker Tim Moore.

"Undoubtedly, there’s going to be an economic impact to this," Chesser said. "It’s going to take time to clean it up."

Chesser explained what the plant looked like on Thursday.

"It looks like a bomb went off," he said.

Chesser mentioned how authorities need to make sure everything is accounted for in the plant because it has controlled substances.

"We’re going to make sure the state does all it can to protect these jobs, to take care of these employees," Moore said.

NC tornado destroys homes, businesses in Nash County

They have several tools to soften the impact for patients.

Some hospitals have started increasing inventories of stored drugs instead of relying on regular deliveries from a wholesaler. Ganio said that it's particularly true of drugs that hospital executives know will be hard to get.

Hospitals also may switch to different forms of a drug by giving a patient an antibiotic pill instead of an IV if that person can handle it. If a larger vial size of a drug is more readily available, they may order that and then fill several syringes with smaller doses ready for use.

Yes, it's been happening for years. But right now, hospitals are specifically seeing shortages for things like chemotherapy drugs.

The impact of drug shortages isn't limited to hospitals. Drug stores and doctor's offices have also seen shortages.

Overall, there were 309 active drug shortages in the U.S. at the end of June, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service. That’s up from 295 at the end of last year and the highest total recorded since 2014.

Every dollar raised will go to help the people who have been affected by the tornado.

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