Oct 17 (Reuters) - Baxter International ( BAX ) said on

Thursday it will import 18,000 tons of intravenous products from

its newly cleared international plants to the U.S. by the end of

the year to mitigate a shortage caused by Hurricane Helene.

The medical device maker expects the products from Europe

and Asia to be delivered to the U.S. in about 200 Boeing 747

airplanes.

Baxter said it is pursuing other avenues such as expiration

date extension requests to manage shortage of the medical

product.

The company received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration last week to temporarily import products from

five facilities in Canada, China, Ireland, and the UK as it

works to bring a hurricane-hit plant in North Carolina back

online.