About 800 pharmaceutical products are in short supply across Iran, including 90 considered essential and life-saving, according to Hadi Ahmadi of the Iranian Pharmacists Association. Prices have also surged, with insulin costing up to six times more than a year ago, as sanctions, disrupted transport and damage from the US-Israel war put pressure on the pharmaceutical sector.
Patients are switching medicines as costs rise
Farah, a 59-year-old Tehran resident who uses medication for an autoimmune condition, said she switched from a Swiss-made prescription to an Iranian-made version because of price and availability. She worries the domestic alternative may also become scarce and said changing between products can be difficult because they may differ in quality and effectiveness.
The shortages include medicines for cancer and other serious illnesses. Figures reported by Mehr News Agency show gabapentin prices rose 220 percent over the past year, while acetaminophen rose 375 percent, amoxicillin 285 percent and fluoxetine 100 percent.
War damage has hit domestic production
Iran has built domestic capacity to produce pharmaceutical ingredients, equipment and finished medicines, but it still depends on imports for critical ingredients, equipment and rare drugs. US sanctions have made the financial and logistics networks used to obtain those imports more expensive and difficult to operate, despite humanitarian exemptions.
Iranian officials say the war that began in February damaged or destroyed about 44 pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies, with about 50 industry workers killed or wounded. Tofigh Daru, a major pharmaceutical company, said air strikes destroyed its research and production lines, databases, servers and specialised equipment.
Authorities dispute the scale of the crisis
Mahdi Pirsalehi, head of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration, said Iran was experiencing fewer drug shortages than the previous year, but did not provide figures. He made the statement at a pharmaceutical exhibition in Tehran attended mainly by Iranian businesses, with representatives from some Chinese companies.
A Tehran gastroenterologist and university professor said rising prices, the gradual removal of subsidised foreign currency for medical imports and unpaid insurer debts to pharmacies were worsening access. Local media put those debts at about 8 quadrillion rials, or $3.56bn. The doctor also warned that reported interruptions to rotavirus vaccine imports, and possible disruption to influenza vaccine imports, could threaten vaccination efforts.
What happens next
Tofigh Daru has rented an alternate production line to keep output going, while its sales director estimated that partial rebuilding of the company would require at least two years and tens of millions of dollars.
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