STAT+: Rising oil prices can boost the cost of some medicines. One expert says it’s time to lower reliance on fossil fuels
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- Unitaid published a new report examining how oil price volatility affects essential medicine manufacturing costs, prompted by the war with Iran driving oil prices up
- The report found one HIV medication's manufacturing costs could rise 15% if oil reaches $120 per barrel
- 85% of those higher manufacturing costs are driven by petrochemical ingredients, per Unitaid's analysis
- Julien Pouille, Unitaid's climate and health strategic team lead and the report's lead author, argues reducing reliance on petrochemical inputs would both lower medicine costs and benefit the climate
- Pouille framed the investigation as part of Unitaid's broader access strategy, which seeks to advance products that are good for health and climate simultaneously
Why it matters: For patients in low- and middle-income countries who depend on HIV medications, even modest oil price spikes could translate into supply disruptions when 85% of manufacturing cost increases come from petrochemical inputs. Unitaid is making the case that decarbonizing pharmaceutical supply chains is both a climate and a medicine-access imperative, not just an environmental one.
