MRIs feel the helium pinch

Medical device makers are feeling the helium supply squeeze, with Royal Philips confirming it was having difficulties sourcing helium for MRI and CT scanners.

The war in Iran has crimped global helium supply by 30% and one of the great fears was the impact it would have on essential medical devices.

Now, Royal Philips, one of the biggest medical device manufacturers in the world, has confirmed the problem during its annual reporting.

“Medical imaging has a huge global footprint and unfortunately indeed with the Strait of Hormuz we saw that vulnerability of the dependency of such a finite material,” Chief Executive Officer Roy Jakobs said in an interview published in the Financial Post.

Qatar, where helium manufacturing was hit in the war, had been supplying Europe 40% of its needs and supply was now an issue. Philips was trying to turn to helium-free scanners, though Jakobs said "technically it’s not an easy solution".

Meanwhile, two of the world’s largest helium suppliers, Linde and Air Liquide, both highlighted the supply issues in their recent annual reporting.

Linde said the war had brough on "acute global shortages". They were prioritising long-term customers and did not expect to take advantage of higher spot pricing.

Air Liquide confirmed it had requested temporary relief from its supply contracts to enable allocation by application criticality, meaning health devices would be near the top of the chain. The goal was to minimise disruption to long-term contract holders.

Australia has no sovereign helium production and imports all its needs.

Gold Hydrogen has found high levels of helium and natural hydrogen in South Australia and will conduct crucial flow-testing in June or July to see if its reserves can be fast-tracked towards commerciality.