By-products from petrochemicals are used to produce drugs including painkillers, antibiotics and vaccines.
The UK imports most of its generic medicines, with 30% coming from India, which in turn depends on the Gulf to supply a significant proportion of its crude oil imports.
The UK was experiencing some product shortages before the war, and recently NHS leaders and pharmacies raised concerns about supplies and prices. Last week the government said it wasn’t aware of any supply issues caused by the conflict.
The National Pharmacy Association says the war has pushed up the cost of transporting and manufacturing some medicines.
Some pharmacies say they’ve increased the cost to customers of common generic over-the-counter medicines, such as paracetamol and hay fever treatments, by about a fifth.
The NPA says some wholesale prices for pharmacies ordering in stock have almost doubled since the start of the war, and it anticipates more of these extra costs will be passed on to patients in the coming weeks.
There won’t be a change to how much people pay for their prescriptions, it says, as these prices are fixed by the NHS.
