Big Pharma drugmaker Pfizer Inc said its plant in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was destroyed after a tornado ripped through the facility on Wednesday.
The plant is one of the world’s largest sterile injectable product facilities.
In an email statement, a Pfizer spokesperson confirmed that the Rocky Mount facility suffered considerable damage and that the drugmaker was assessing the situation to determine its impact on its drug production.
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The statement added that Pfizer employees at the plant after it was destroyed by the tornado, and were able to evacuate and are safe.
Reuters reported that the site produces nearly 30% of all sterile injectables used in U.S. hospitals. Also, it focuses on manufacturing a variety of products like anti-infectives, neuromuscular blockers, as well as vials and syringes.
According to Pfizer’s official website, the Rocky Mountain facility employs over 4,500 professionals.
As The Daily Mail reported, the National Weather Service described the tornado as an EF-3, according to WITN. The damage assessment is ongoing throughout Nash County,
The EF (Enhance Fujita) scale is a way to measure tornados based on wind speed. An EF-3 has winds speed up to 165 mph. The scale goes up to EF-5.
The tornado that leveled Joplin, Missouri, was classified as an EF-5 storm.
Videos posted on social media and shared by locals showed the Nash County, North Carolina, churning and kicking up debris in the area.
“I never want to see another one like it again because It went from sunshine to pitch black, and this storm lasted probably less than a minute – and you can see what it’s done,” Dortches Mayor Jackie Vick told WITN.
“It’s devastation, but the main thing as far as we’ve heard so far, there’s not been any loss of life, some bumps and scrapes and that type thing, but no loss of life, so the rest of it we can deal with.”
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