Middle East war disrupts pharma air routes, risks cancer drugs supply

Some medicines have short shelf lives and need strict cold-chain storage

Plumes of smoke and fire rise after debris from an intercepted Iranian drone struck an oil facility, according to authorities, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. Picture@ AP Photo/Altaf Qadri.

War in the Middle East is disrupting the flow of critical medicines to the Gulf, imperilling supply routes for cancer drugs and other treatments that require refrigeration and forcing companies to reroute flights ​and find overland access into the region, industry executives said.

The conflict, sparked by US and Israeli attacks on Iran two weeks ago and broadened by Iranian strikes around the region, ‌has knocked out key air transit hubs and closed shipping routes, snarling the movement of goods for many products from medicines to food and oil.