As the effects of the weekend’s U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran begin to reverberate across the Middle East, several pharmaceutical companies operating in the region are taking early steps to ensure the safety of local employees and ensure continued access to medicines in neighboring countries affected by the ongoing conflict.
The United States and Israel launched attacks across Iran on February 28, following a large-scale military buildup by the United States in the Middle East in recent weeks. In response, Iran launched retaliatory attacks not only on Israel but also on neighboring countries that host U.S. military bases, such as Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
At a White House event on Monday, President Donald Trump said he expected the US military operation in Iran to take four to five weeks, or potentially longer, to complete.
Amid uncertainty over the course of the conflict and the threat of a humanitarian crisis, several major pharmaceutical companies operating in the Middle East are working to protect the safety of their local employees to overcome potential supply issues.
Many pharmaceutical companies have operations in the region, and Saudi Arabia has attracted investment and cooperation in recent years from the likes of Sanofi, Vertex and CSL as it seeks to establish itself as a biotech hotspot by 2040.
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“As a global company, we are closely monitoring the situation and working hard to ensure the safety of our colleagues, affiliates, partners and their families in the region,” a Boehringer Ingelheim spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “At the same time, we will continue to work hard to ensure that human and animal patients continue to have access to the medicines they need.”
The company is “saddened to see the humanitarian impact of this conflict,” the spokesperson added.
According to Boehringer Ingelheim’s website, Boehringer Ingelheim has a regional office in the Middle East and North Africa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as scientific offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has taken a similar approach, with a spokesperson telling Fiers that its employees in the affected countries “take responsibility” and are supported by Roche.
A Roche spokesperson said: “The safety and well-being of our employees remains our top priority.” “We are continually assessing the situation in real time to mitigate potential future supply risks to ensure patients continue to have access to the treatments and diagnostic solutions they need. We are committed to ensuring the supply of lifesaving medicines and diagnostic tests is always guaranteed.”
Roche lists online locations in the Middle East in Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Iran’s capital Tehran.
Meanwhile, Bayer told Fierce it was “deeply concerned by the recent escalation in violence in the Middle East.”
“As a global company, our main focus is ensuring the safety of our employees and business continuity,” a spokesperson for the German conglomerate said in an email. “The most important thing at this time is that all of our (approximately 500 Bayer) employees and contractors in the region are safe and no Bayer facilities in the region have been affected by any physical damage or direct security incident.”
A spokesperson said on its website that Bayer has been providing products for more than 130 years, and stressed that Bayer will continue to monitor the situation in the region. The German pharmaceutical company said it operates as a national group in the region and has also established legal entities and distributors in Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In other parts of the Middle East, the company’s medicines are sold under agreements with partners and local distributors.
Merck told Fierce that it, like Novo Nordisk, is keeping inventory of its operations, facilities and personnel in the Middle East, adding that a representative for the Danish drugmaker “confirmed that all employees in the affected countries are safe.”
A Novo spokesperson added: “We are committed to the safety of our employees and the continued supply of essential medicines to people living with serious chronic conditions in our region.”
Takeda Pharmaceutical said it has also confirmed the safety of its employees in the area. “At this time, we are focused on ensuring the safety of our employees as we continue to provide access to our medicines for patients who need them,” a spokesperson for the Tokyo-based drug company said in an emailed statement.
Fierce Pharma reached out to a variety of global pharmaceutical companies to ask about the status of their operations and employees in the Middle East, as well as how pharmaceutical companies plan to respond to the evolving situation. We will continue to update this story as new answers become available.
