In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at why the Iran war could make your MRI more expensive, a serial entrepreneur’s effort to build an FDA-approved AI doctor, Pfizer’s lyme disease vaccine, and more. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.

The ongoing war in Iran may make your next MRI more expensive. That’s because one-third of the global supply of helium, a key requirement for MRI machines, comes from Qatar and flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s attacks on Qatar’s natural gas production have knocked out some of its capacity, while its closure of the Strait has limited trade. Helium, which is extracted alongside natural gas, is crucial for cooling down the magnets in MRIs.

Over the past four weeks since the war began, helium spot prices have doubled, and analysts expect that even customers whose prices are set by contract may find themselves stuck with force majeure surcharges. Even if the war were to end today, it would take months for some of Qatar’s production to restart and for supply chains to recover. Demand for helium has accelerated in recent years due to the AI boom, as the gas is also necessary for semiconductor manufacturing. While hospitals get first dibs on helium if there’s a shortage, the competition with chipmakers, who are now the largest consumer of it, means they’ll face higher prices for it.

While it’s unlikely that patients who need an MRI won’t be able to get one, it could make them more expensive, Michael Hoff, a professor at the UCSF School of Medicine, told Forbes. That’s especially true in less wealthy hospitals because older MRI systems “require regular helium pumping and refilling,” he said, making them more sensitive to helium prices.

Over the long term, prolonged high prices could push hospitals to buy newer machines with lower operating costs, he said. But in the short term, higher helium prices could make “MRIs relatively unaffordable compared to a year ago,” Hoff said.

If hospitals pass on those higher operating costs, then cash-strapped patients–especially those whose insurance won’t cover the full costs of the imaging–might choose not to get the medical images they need and their health could........

© Forbes