(Bloomberg) -- Baxter International Inc., one of the biggest makers of fluid used during home dialysis, asked health care providers to limit new patient sign-ups because of shortages caused by hurricane damage at its key manufacturing plant.
Only children and other patients with specific medical needs should start home peritoneal dialysis for the time being, the company said in a statement Monday. It doesn’t know when it will be making enough of its fluid to resume taking new at-home patients normally, it said.
Baxter produced much of the peritoneal dialysis fluid used in the US, as well as other intravenous fluids given routinely at hospitals, at its plant in North Carolina that was damaged by Hurricane Helene late last month. The disruption has already started affecting patients and dialysis providers.
“They’ve got to prioritize,” said Andres Gutierrez, chief executive officer and owner of Carmen [kidney] HEALTH, which operates in Mexico and Texas. “Even though it’s terrible, we think they’re making the correct call.”
Baxter is also limiting IV fluid orders as it increases production at other sites and works to get the North Carolina plant back online. Shortages of those fluids have led hospitals to ration supplies and postpone procedures, even as other companies ramp up manufacturing and the government allows importation of foreign products.
It’s unclear when Baxter’s manufacturing will return to normal, the company said in its statement.
Home Dialysis
While patients can get a different type of dialysis at a treatment center, the two processes start with separate — and different — surgeries. The US government’s Medicare program, which pays for most dialysis in the country, has been encouraging centers to move patients to the less-expensive home option.
About 80,000 people in the US get peritoneal dialysis, which generally requires several liters of fluid a day, said Suzanne Watnick, a nephrologist and professor at the University of Washington.
The other major maker of peritoneal dialysis fluids, Fresenius Medical Care AG, is working to make more, the company has said. The US government is also allowing more fluids to be shipped in from overseas.
Still, the disruption has led to concerns for some Baxter patients.
Jacqueline Duran, a 34-year-old patient with end-stage kidney disease in Monterey Bay, California, dipped into her reserves when an expected shipment didn’t arrive on Oct. 3. She worried about what would happen if it didn’t show up at all.
“I need my treatment, I need my solution,” she said. “I need to dialyze. If not, I’m gonna die.”
It arrived from Baxter about a week later.
“I was so happy,” Duran said. “It felt like I’d gotten gold.”
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