Lebanon does not discover medicines derived from biotechnology. By highlighting their development during the campaign to support the Lebanese drug, on 5 November, Minister of Health Rakan Nassereddine described an industrial ambition that is already based on identifiable companies and products. But the accessible documents do not demonstrate complete manufacturing autonomy or a national production volume by 2026.
To evaluate this activity, several steps must be separated: research, substance production, formulation, filling, packaging, registration and marketing. A company may participate in some of these operations without carrying out them all in Lebanon. The name of the laboratory on a sheet does not describe the entire chain.
Alpeen: a product identified in the ministerial base
The drug base of the Ministry of Health Alpeen reference, recombinant human erythropoietin, under the classification « BioTech ». For the presentation of 4,000 units consulted, it indicates Arwan Pharmaceutical Industries Lebanon as a laboratory, Lebanon as a country of manufacture and a registration number. These are precise regulatory information, distinct from a simple search announcement.
However, they do not indicate the quantities produced this year, the stocks available or the origin of each industrial stage. A registered card is not a pharmacy availability statement and does not provide a local integration rate.
A document from the partner Polymun provides an important clarification. In its public references, the company describes its contribution to Arwan’s biosimilar erythropoietin project: development of the expression system and manufacturing process, provision of bulk-formulated products according to good manufacturing practices and regional licensing. It presents Alpeen as marketed in Lebanon, Jordan, Kenya and Libya.
This description shows why it is necessary to avoid automatically translating the words « Lebanon » into full production on site, from the initial organic production to the finished medicine. It does not challenge the qualification listed by the department. It reveals the participation of an industrial partner that the only line of the base does not detail.
Installations, without complete public balance of volumes
The official presentation of local manufacturers indicates that Arwan started operations in 2013 with a first unit of sterile injectable drugs. The investment sheet of the IDAL also mentions a commissioning in 2013, after project approval in 2011. These dates recall that industrial activity predates the November 2026 declarations.
At Benta Pharma Industries, the biotechnology page describes areas for research, quality control, upstream and downstream production, cold storage and fill formulation. The department’s inventory also presents the company as a manufacturer of oncological, biotechnological and sterile products.
These descriptions document reported activities and facilities submitted by companies. They do not constitute an audit independent of their capacity used, their recent volumes or the authorisation of each treatment mentioned. An announced technical capacity must not be converted into a quantity actually placed on the market.
Research and commercialization do not overlap
Benta also describes work in cell therapy and encapsulation of living cells. Such programmes fall within a different field than the mere production of a drug already registered. Their presentation on an industrial site is not sufficient to establish a marketing authorisation in Lebanon or demonstrated clinical efficacy for patients.
To document a new production, it would be necessary to know the product, the site responsible for each step, the corresponding authorizations and the lots actually manufactured and released. To measure its contribution to the country, imported volumes, value added and inputs would also be required. These elements are not included together in the public exhibits examined.
The observation is therefore more precise than an opposition between promise and absence of industry: Lebanon already has referenced biotechnological agents and medicines. The extent of all-local production and its recent growth remain to be determined by product.
General picture of the pharmaceutical sector: tablets and capsules, Libnanews bank. It does not represent Alpeen, biological drugs or the facilities of the companies mentioned. Photographer not provided.
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