Technical Issue Stops Ibuprofen Production at BASF Plant

A technical issue forced BASF to stop production of Ibuprofen at its Bishop, TX plant, which could impact supplies of the popular painkiller for several months as repairs are made, a company spokesperson told Reuters last week.

The company halted manufacturing of Ibuprofen at the Texas site on June 3. At present, the exact cause of the shutdown is unknown, but BASF said it will provide further details on the site this month, the Reuters article said.

The Bishop, TX site has produced Ibuprofen for more than two decades and is considered an important global provider of the painkilling drug.

In June 2017, BASF announced plans to invest €200 million to construct a new Ibuprofen production site in Ludwigshafen, Germany and expand the capacity of the Bishop site. Scheduled to become operational in 2021, the addition of the new plant in Germany will make the BASF the sole Ibuprofen maker with two production faculties in its network.

Although the potential impacts of the Bishop plant shut down are unknown, some German media organizations are speculating that there may be a shortage of the drug for several months.

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