October 5, 2026
Lebanese MP Jamil Al-Sayyed opened fire on the file of medicine prices for incurable diseases, revealing huge financial differences in the prices of medical drugs provided to the Ministry of Public Health, and calling on the judiciary and regulatory bodies to open an immediate investigation into what he described as “outrageous profits” committed at the expense of patients and public money.
In a post on his official account on the “X” platform, Al-Sayed explained that the Ministry of Health recently conducted an official tender to purchase 2,500 boxes of a drug designated for treating cancer, which resulted in the victory of the Chinese drug “Nintava,” provided by the company “Levant Pulse,” at a price of $697 per box, thus making it an alternative to the drug “Ofev,” which was imported by the company “Mersaco,” in light of the identical therapeutic specifications for the two drugs.
The MP pointed out that the biggest surprise was that the previous supplying company, which had been charging $2,075 per box from the Ministry of Health, suddenly reduced its price to $650 in order to participate in the final tender, recording a huge price difference of $1,425 per box.
Al-Sayed claimed that these illegal profits have continued throughout the past five years, estimating the total wasted amounts at approximately $18 million of public money, given that the company in question was “the only exhibitor of that drug” throughout that period.
He concluded by wondering about the number of patients whose lives could have been saved and treated with such sums, considering that this issue constitutes a necessary input into scrutinizing the deals of other companies across various sectors. In this context, Al-Sayyed called on the judiciary and regulatory bodies to take urgent action to pursue any potential waste of public money, suggesting that the state undertake the import of medicines and vital materials directly, which would save hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the state treasury, instead of burdening citizens with additional taxes.
Representative Al-Sayed’s bombing of this file comes against the backdrop of the results of the Ministry of Health’s recent tender, at a time when these aforementioned numbers and accusations remain in the hands of the competent judicial and supervisory authorities to verify their authenticity and determine the legal responsibilities resulting from them.
