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At a Glance: Heparin Plant in Cherry Hill
Location: 2 Esterbrook Lane, Cherry Hill, N.J.
Owner: Baxter Healthcare Corp., unit of Baxter International Inc. of Deerfield, Ill.
Plant capability: 372,000- square-foot facility for asceptic processing of sterile products, including injectable drugs. Includes warehouse, R&D facility, technical services, chemistry labs, printing operations, administrative offices, critical batch-mixing/compounding operations, specialized package accommodations, and critical storage areas.
Volume/products: Tens of millions of doses a year of scores of products, including about 35 million doses - roughly half the nation's supply - of the blood-thinning drug heparin; also produces antibiotics and other human drug products, including the antihistamine diphenhydramine and sedatives midazolam and lorazepam.
History: Formerly owned and run by ESI Lederle, a unit of Wyeth. Baxter bought the plant in 2002 for about $350 million.
Employment: Roughly 800, down from about 1,000 at time of purchase.
Suppliers: Baxter's supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients for heparin is Scientific Protein Laboratories L.L.C. (SPL) of Waunakee, Wis. Since 1996, SPL has processed at its Wisconsin facility heparin active ingredientsthat came from Chinese suppliers of crude heparin material, Baxter has said.
Inspections: Last FDA inspection completed in February. Zero infractions or fault observed. At that time, Baxter said it "ruled out the manufacturing process at its Cherry Hill" facility as a contributor to contamination.
