Samaan Lateef in Mumbai

Indian hospitals are running out of two life-saving cancer drugs as the war in Iran continues to disrupt the supply of raw materials.

Stocks of cisplatin and carboplatin, two of the most widely used chemotherapy drugs in the country, have begun running dry over the last three weeks, doctors and pharmaceutical industry representatives have said.

The two closely related drugs are derived from platinum, a precious metal that has surged in cost due to the Middle East conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and form the backbone of treatment for about 60 per cent of advanced cancer cases.

India reports about 1.4 million new cancer cases annually, with an estimated 2.5 to 3 million patients battling the disease at any given time. 

Dwindling drug stocks have forced major facilities like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi and private hospitals across India to delay or modify treatment schedules, sending patients and families on frantic hunts through pharmacies and distributors.

“There is an acute shortage of two drugs, [cisplatin and carboplatin],” Dr Shyam Aggarwal, chairman of medical oncology at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, told The Telegraph. 

“Today, I am having to tell six out of ten patients who need these medicines to try to find them in the open market themselves. That should never happen in a modern healthcare system.

“At our hospital, we treat about 30 cancer patients every day, and nearly 60 to 70 per cent require a platinum-based chemotherapy drug. The shortage has now lasted almost three weeks and, at our current rate of use, we have only a few days of stock remaining.”

The platinum-based chemotherapy agents are prescribed for a broad range of cancers, including those of the cervix, lung, ovary, breast, bladder and oesophagus. Both are included in India’s National List of Essential Medicines and have been standard components of cancer treatment for more than four decades.

Public and private hospitals across India, including in Mumbai and Bengaluru, are now facing shortages of cisplatin and carboplatin, Dr Aggarwal said. 

The drugs are relatively inexpensive medicines – a patient may spend only around ₹3,000 (£23.50) a month on treatment – and are manufactured in India.

They include active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) sourced from South Africa, Russia and other countries.

But it is the supply of platinum that has hurt availability of the drugs the most.

The process of producing cisplatin and carboplatin begins with metallic platinum, which is chemically processed into a water-soluble salt that forms the basis of the two drugs.

Platinum prices in India have almost doubled over the past six months, rising from about ₹3,900 per gram in September 2025 to nearly ₹8,000 per gram earlier this year.

Manufacturers say that obtaining sufficient quantities of the raw material has become increasingly difficult, leading to supply shortages across the country. 

“The companies are finding it difficult to supply the market, and the drugs are disappearing from pharmacy shelves,” Dr Aggarwal said.

The consequences for patients could be severe. Cisplatin and carboplatin are frequently administered before surgery to shrink tumours, after surgery to reduce the risk of recurrence, and alongside radiotherapy in several curative cancer protocols.

“These platinum-based drugs are extremely important drugs for treating several common cancers. They are the backbone of cancer treatment,” Dr Aggarwal said. “Shortages of them can delay treatment, reduce their effectiveness and affect patients’ chances of survival and recovery.”

He added that he had recently seen a patient with bladder cancer who urgently needed treatment.

“Instead of focusing on his recovery, his family was forced to spend days searching for a drug that should be readily available.

“Families are running helter-skelter to procure the drugs for the patients. This is a very sad story.”

Treatment using the drugs can run for six months. But interrupting treatment midway can have serious consequences, he added.

The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists said several pharmaceutical companies had reported disruptions in API availability over the past three months.

Rajiv Singhal, the organisation’s General Secretary, said: “The challenge stems primarily from the constrained global availability of platinum-based active pharmaceutical ingredients and key raw materials over recent months.

“Manufacturers across the pharmaceutical sector are actively working to secure adequate supplies of these essential raw materials and are taking all possible measures to normalise production and distribution at the earliest,” he told Telegraph.

He urged the federal government to take steps to facilitate the availability and “import of critical raw materials, thereby enabling manufacturers to restore regular supplies and safeguarding the continuity of cancer treatment for thousands of patients across the country.”

For doctors on the frontline, however, the crisis is already exacting a toll.

“I’m getting anxious,” Dr Aggarwal said. “Patients are looking to me for help, and I have to tell them I cannot get the medicines they need.”

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