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. ADVERTISEMENTWhile there are few signs yet of major shortages, that could change if the conflict drags on, some executives said. The Gulf relies heavily on imports and some medicines have short shelf lives and need strict cold-chain storage, making lengthy overland shipping less practical. Executives at Western drugmakers said they were seeking alternative routes into the Gulf and trucking some drugs overland from airports like Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Doaa Fathallah, chief operating officer at biopharma logistics company Marken, said cold-chain cargo was getting through, but only with round-the-clock re-routing as airspace restrictions shifted rapidly.

Source: The Telegraph March 31, 2026 15:01 UTC