Overview

• Analyzing FDA and FEMA data for 2019–2024, the study mapped 10,861 facilities and found 6,819 (63%) in counties with at least one federally declared weather disaster.
• Roughly a third of facilities encountered a disaster in an average year, with hurricanes identified as the most frequent hazard to pharmaceutical operations.
• Counties without drug plants had similar disaster risk to those with plants, indicating that relocation alone would not meaningfully reduce exposure.
• Hurricanes that struck Puerto Rico in 2017 and North Carolina in 2024 disrupted Baxter’s IV fluid production and led to rationing before output recovered and the FDA said shortages had resolved.
• The authors call for supply-chain transparency, strategic production allocation, and disaster risk management, noting FDA reinspection can slow recovery and that data limits prevent measuring how often disasters directly cause shortages.