Pfizer tornado recovery: What was lost in NC tornado, impact on US medicine supply

A powerful EF3 tornado touched down near Rocky Mount on July 19, 2023, damaging a storage warehouse at Pfizer's pharmaceutical manufacturing facility at 4285 N. Wesleyan Blvd.

Two weeks after the tornado, on July 31, Pfizer released a report detailing how much product was damaged and if medical professionals and patients will be impacted.

Here are the main findings.

The tornado primarily affected Pfizer's storage facility – where finished medicines and packing supplies are stored – rather than its medicine production areas, according to the company. More than 100 vehicles and storage trucks were also damaged at the plant.

The Rocky Mount site's drug production areas, lab rooms and production equipment were not damaged by the July 19 tornado.

The tornado damaged Pfizer's large HiRise warehouse and approximately 40,000 pallets of packaging supplies and finished medicines. Other warehouses storing finished batches of drugs were not physically damaged.

A statement from Pfizer reads: "All necessary supplies have been reordered for expedited delivery and Pfizer is in active contact with these suppliers. Pfizer’s quality team is assessing [affected] materials to determine which can be salvaged and released to the market."

Pfizer will use a nearby temporary storage location until the warehouse on the Rocky Mount campus can be rebuilt. There is no timeline for the rebuild process.

Pfizer's Rocky Mount facility produces close to 50 medicines, including anesthesia, analgesia and micronutrients, most distributed in small-batch ampules, vials and syringes. The medicines make up about 25% of Pfizer injectables used in U.S. hospitals, or about 8% of the U.S. hospital supply.

Pfizer does not produce vaccines at the Rocky Mount site, including the COVID-19 vaccine or injectables used in cancer patients.

“We do not expect there to be any immediate significant impacts on supply given the products are currently at hospitals and in the distribution system,” U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf said.

Pfizer said supply recovery is prioritized by the drugs that are most medically important as well as those that have lower inventory.

The FDA’s initial analysis identified fewer than 10 drugs for which Pfizer’s North Carolina plant is the sole source for the U.S. market.

“Many weeks’ worth” of the destroyed drugs should be available in Pfizer’s other warehouses, Califf said.

In the weeks following the tornado, Pfizer has started the process to reopen, including:

The plant is one of Nash County's largest employers, employing more than 3,200 people. All Pfizer employees were accounted for after the tornado.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla visited Rocky Mount two days after the storm to tour the damage. He announced that Pfizer will continue to pay all of its employees while repairs are being made.

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.

Anyone who would like to help, can make a donation to the Twin County Tornado Disaster Relief Fund. Every dollar raised will go to help the people who have been affected by the tornado.