As the effects of the United States and Israel’s weekend attack on Iran begin to ripple through the Middle East at large, multiple drugmakers operating in the region are taking stock of their local workforces’ safety and committing early to continued medicines access in neighboring countries struck by the unfolding conflict.
Following an extensive Middle East military build-up by the U.S. in recent weeks, the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28 launched attacks across Iran. In response, Iran launched retaliatory attacks on Israel, as well as nearby countries that host U.S. military bases like Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
At a White House event Monday, President Donald Trump said he expects the U.S. military operation in Iran could take 4 to 5 weeks—or longer—to see through.
Amid the uncertainty of the developing conflict and the threat of a humanitarian crisis looming, multiple Big Pharma companies with operations in the Middle East are working to keep their local employees safe as they strive to navigate potential supply challenges.
Many drugmakers have operations in the area, and Saudi Arabia in particular has in recent years attracted investments and collaborations from the likes of Sanofi, Vertex and CSL as the Kingdom seeks to assert itself as a biotech hotspot by 2040.
Global medicine makers respond
“As a global company, we are closely monitoring the situation and are working hard to make sure our colleagues, affiliates, partners, and their families in the region are safe,” a Boehringer Ingelheim spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “At the same time, we will 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 consequences of this conflict,” the spokesperson added.
According to its website, Boehringer Ingelheim has a Middle East and North Africa Regional Office in Dubai, UAE, plus scientific offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Algeria.
Swiss drugmaker Roche is taking a similar approach, with a spokesperson telling Fierce that the company’s employees in affected countries “are accounted for” and have Roche’s support.
“The security and well-being of our workforce remain our highest priority,” the Roche spokesperson said. “We are continually assessing the situation in real time to mitigate potential future supply risks to ensure ongoing access to essential treatments and diagnostic solutions for patients. We are doing everything to ensure that the supply of our life-saving medicines and diagnostic tests is guaranteed at all times.”
Online, Roche lists Middle East sites in Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and in the Iranian capital of Tehran.
For its part, Bayer told Fierce that it is “deeply concerned about the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East.”
“As a global company, our primary focus is on ensuring employee safety and business continuity,” a spokesperson for the German conglomerate said over email. “Most importantly at this point in time, all our (roughly 500 Bayer) employees and contractors in the region are safe, and no Bayer facility in the region is affected by physical damage or direct security incidents.”
The spokesperson stressed that Bayer will continue to monitor the situation in the region, where Bayer states on its website that it has offered its products for more than 130 years. The German drugmaker says that it operates as a country group in the region and has also established legal entities and representations in Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In other parts of the Middle East, the company’s drugs are distributed under arrangements with partners and local agencies.
Merck & Co. told Fierce that it is keeping stock of its operations, facilities and personnel in the Middle East, as did Novo Nordisk, with a representative for the Danish drugmaker adding that it has “confirmed that all of our employees in the affected countries are safe.”
“Our full focus is on the safety of our employees and the continued supply of essential medicines to people living with serious chronic diseases in the region,” Novo's spokesperson added.
Takeda said it has also been able to confirm the safety of its employees in the region. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Tokyo-headquartered pharma said that “[r]ight now, our focus is on helping ensure our employees remain safe as we work to continue to provide access to our medicines for the patients who need them.”
Fierce Pharma has reached out to a range of global pharmaceutical companies to inquire about the status of their Middle East operations and employees, as well as how the drugmakers plan to respond to the evolving situation. We will continue to update this story with new responses as they come in.