Lebanon Reorganizes Drug Market with New Biological Standards and UN Support

Minister of Public Health Rakkan Nasser Al-Din held a press conference detailing the reform steps undertaken by the ministry in the pharmaceutical sector, attended by the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Lebanon Dr. Ahmed Zouiten, Dean of Physicians Professor Elias Chellala, and Dean of Pharmacists Dr. Abdul Rahman Marqabaoui.

Nasser Al-Din noted that "the Lebanese government and the Ministry of Health have taken measures aimed at preserving drug quality, regulating their importation, enhancing oversight, and preventing the entry of any medication that does not meet the required conditions and standards."

He added: "In the context of fulfilling its commitment to update the adopted standards according to the global system followed in cooperation with the WHO, the Ministry of Public Health corresponded with the organization, which kindly responded and dispatched a technical team that participated in a workshop with the ministry last week. During this workshop, the academic team formed by the ministry from representatives of Lebanese universities was trained to study files on similar biological drugs (Biosimilars)."

Nasser Al-Din clarified that "during the workshop, a draft of modern standards was prepared to be adopted for reviewing pharmaceutical files, so that every drug entering Lebanon, whether it is a biological drug or a similar biological drug, will be studied according to the updated standards."

He thanked the WHO for its support and assistance, expressing confidence in the prepared standards and confirming that they "will be officially adopted immediately upon approval by the Ministry of Public Health, to be announced during an additional reform workshop, until the process of forming the National Drug Agency is completed, regarding which appointments will soon be made in cooperation with the Civil Service Board."

Application for Drug Reporting

On another note, Nasser Al-Din called on physicians and pharmacists to "download the mobile application dedicated to the national pharmacovigilance campaign, specifically designed for doctors and pharmacists," explaining that it "allows them to report any case where a patient did not benefit from a specific medication or suffered side effects as a result of taking it."

He affirmed that "reports registered through the application will be considered official notifications to the Ministry of Public Health, which will follow up on cases and investigate them directly through the pharmacovigilance team, either via pharmacy inspection or opening an investigation depending on the nature of the case, and take appropriate decisions within a short period, with results communicated to the Orders of Physicians and Pharmacists."

Zouiten

The WHO Representative in Lebanon, Ahmed Zouiten, said: "Our goal is to work gradually on strengthening the capabilities of the National Drug Agency in Lebanon, enabling it to ensure effective and efficient regulation of medicines and other health technologies, based on scientific foundations."

He added: "Through this mission, we are working to address urgent regulatory priorities, while simultaneously building specialized expertise and institutional capacities in the long term, enabling the evaluation of complex medications such as biosimilars. With valuable support from the European Union, the WHO continues its commitment to working hand in hand with the Ministry of Public Health to enhance patient safety, improve access to quality-assured medicines, and advance towards achieving universal health coverage in Lebanon."