Pharmac plans for risk of medicine shortages amid Iran war
Friday, 10 April 2026
The conflict in the Middle East is disrupting global supplies of medicine, with Pharmac disclosing stocks of a heart medication are running low in New Zealand.
The drug buying agency’s s acting director of pharmaceuticals Claire Pouwels said it has been advised by its supplier that it has run out of Isosorbide mononitrate - a medication used to treat heart conditions - due to rising demand and conflict in the Middle East.
With its next shipment delayed, a funded alternative, Duride, has been identified. It is working closely with the supplier to understand when the product will be available again.
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The Ministry of Health is leading the health sector’s response to the Middle East conflict, and working closely with Pharmac, Health NZ, suppliers, wholesalers and distributors to identify emerging risks early and ensure medicines are consistently supplied.
Pouwels said it has a number of options, including identifying a suitable already funded alternative, changing dispensing frequencies, or working with suppliers to source a different brand of the medicine, if that’s an option.
She said Pharmac has been notified of some medicines where stock holdings are below the levels outlined in contracts with suppliers.
“[The plan] looks at how long the supply issue could last, if another funded medicine can be used, how much stock of the alternative medicine there is, if we need to get the medicine from a different supplier and how clinicians use the medicine in practice.” she said.
'Pharmac’s contracts require most suppliers to keep at least two months’ stock and notify Pharmac if levels fall below this.
For medical devices, three months’ worth of stock must be held and for vaccines, four to six months’ stock.
If stocks are low, Pharmac could change how often medication is dispensed, giving patients only a one month prescription rather than three months, for example.
Health NZ would lead the process to source alternatives should medical devices be affected, and could buy medical devices that aren’t contracted by Pharmac, which provided extra flexibility, she said.
She said Pharmac was used to having to manage supply issues, with about 100 related to medical devices and medicines happening each month.
“New Zealand’s medicines and medical device supply system has proven resilient through major global disruptions.”
Patient advocate Malcolm Mulholland said the longer the war played out, the more shortages New Zealand could be potentially facing.
As New Zealand was not heavily reliant on products coming out the Middle East, it was hard to predict the outcome.
“Where we might run into issues is around petroleum based products, or raw materials that come out of the Middle East and are transported to India and Bangladesh, transferred into generic medicines and are distributed from there.”
New Zealand is reliant on generic medicines, a more affordable medication created to be the same as an already marketed brand-name drug.
Mulholland believed Pharmac was better placed than other overseas entities that bulk bought medicines for public use.
This was because of Pharmac’s sole supply contract model, which saw only one supplier’s brand of medicine funded for the entire market in exchange for offering the best price.
Due to this, New Zealand is accustomed to occasional supply shortages, and Mulholland noted Pharmac’s agility in sourcing alternative suppliers.
However the model could also put the country at a disadvantage, with limited options when medicines faced supply chain disruptions.
The process of entering into a contract with a new supplier depended entirely on the product and if Pharmac had an existing relationship with the supplier, he said.
He said the missing part of the puzzle was if the Government would increase Pharmac’s budget if it needed to change suppliers.
New Zealand also needed to consider its geographical isolation, he said, noting the increased transportation costs could have flow on effects on the country’s ability to secure fuel.
He noted it wasn’t the first time New Zealand dealt with disruption, with Covid-19 halting production of certain medicines.
“Now is the time to dust off the Covid-19 playbook and look at getting ahead of any potential crisis when it comes to the supply of medicines.”