Conflict in the Middle East is forcing pharmaceutical companies to reroute temperature-sensitive medicines through alternative corridors.
War in the Middle East disrupts pharmaceutical supply chains in the Gulf region, forcing drugmakers to reroute shipments of cancer treatments and other temperature-sensitive medicines as key air and sea transit hubs are knocked out of operation.1
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Conflict sparked by U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and subsequent Iranian strikes across the region have closed major airports including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha, all of which are critical cargo hubs that link Europe with Asia and Africa.1
Dubai and Doha in particular handle large volumes of temperature-controlled pharmaceutical shipments through carriers including Emirates and Etihad and logistics firms such as DHL. Iran has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, making sea routes impractical due to both access restrictions and longer transit times.2
Industry data cited by Wouter Dewulf, a professor at Antwerp Management School, shows that more than a fifth of global air cargo, the primary route for critical and life-saving drugs and vaccines, is exposed to the disruption.1
According to a report from Reuters, pharmaceutical executives are rerouting shipments through alternative airports including Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, as well as Istanbul and Oman, and trucking medicines overland to reach final markets.
Europe-to-Asia cargo that typically transits through Dubai or Doha is being redirected through China or Singapore, as companies set up internal teams to prioritize patient-critical shipments and rely on dry ice to maintain cold-chain integrity over longer routes, adding cost and complexity to an already strained logistics environment.1
One executive cautioned that alternative cold-chain corridors cannot be set up overnight and are not always available, while another warned that temperature-controlled shipments risk missing connections unless proper storage and handling are secured at each point along rerouted paths.1
Medicines requiring strict refrigeration and those with short shelf lives are most vulnerable. Prashant Yadav, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, identified cancer drugs, particularly monoclonal antibodies, as among the highest-risk products.1
Typical stock levels for such medicines in the Gulf run around three months, but some customers have already warned suppliers they could run low within four to six weeks if conditions do not improve. Delays in oncology drug delivery carries serious consequences for patients, who may be forced to restart treatment courses or see their disease progress.
The disruption also hold the potential to extend beyond finished medicines, as executives flag potential shortages of packaging components including vial stoppers and IV bag plastics, components that are themselves shipped through affected routes.1
"It's not always a shortage of the medicine itself," said David Weeks, who covers supply chain for Moody's. "In some cases, it's the little stopper on the vial where the dosage is extracted."
For now, logistics providers say supplies are holding, including Dorothee Becher, head of air logistics for healthcare at Kuehne+Nagel, who said carriers are successfully reaching Gulf markets through alternative routes and that healthcare cargo is being prioritized.1
Other executives cautioned that the situation requires constant management as airspace restrictions shift rapidly, and that risks will rise significantly if the conflict persists, leading to Gulf and Asian inventories beginning to run down.1
