AP: Iran's medicine prices soar as US blockade hit pharmaceutical sector

Medicine prices are soaring in Iran and some treatments have become increasingly difficult to find as a US blockade and stepped-up sanctions put pressure on the country's pharmaceutical industry, the Associated Press reports.

Some medicines have more than tripled in price, adding to financial pressure on Iranian households seven months into the country's war with the United States and Israel.

The rising cost of medicines comes as prices for food and other goods have also surged, unemployment has increased and Iran's currency has lost half its value after hitting a record low this week.

The war has become an economic endurance test for Iran. Tehran has sought to push global energy prices higher by attacking oil shipping routes in the region, while the United States has sought to weaken the Iranian economy by blockading its ports since June and imposing increasingly stringent sanctions.

Iran's pharmaceutical industry is particularly vulnerable because of its reliance on imports. While there has so far been little evidence of major medicine shortages in Iranian hospitals, difficulties are increasingly being reported at pharmacies.

Iran produces more than 80% of its medicines domestically, according to official statistics, but many of those medicines depend on imported raw materials.

Before the war, most medicines and pharmaceutical components were transported to Iran by sea. The US naval blockade has disrupted those shipments, Bahman Sabour, a member of the Tehran Pharmacies Association, told local media.

By Sabina Mammadli