Algorithm is one of the older names in Lebanese drug manufacturing. Its story starts in 1961 with a plant run by Charles E. Frosst & Co. (M.E.), which belonged to the American group Merck & Co. (MSD). In December 1989 the shareholders of Droguerie De L'Union, MSD's distributor in Lebanon, bought the plant and renamed it Algorithm. Today the company works in six therapeutic lines: antithrombotic therapy, central nervous system, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity with primary care. It combines its own generics with products licensed from international partners, and its portfolio includes names such as Livazo, Adenuric, Aggrastat and Exonar, as well as the 123 cold and flu range. The head office sits on the sea road in Zouk Mosbeh, and the company reports a presence in nine countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Algorithm at a glance
- Traces its history to a 1961 plant owned by Merck & Co. (MSD)
- Renamed Algorithm after a Lebanese buyout in December 1989
- Works in six therapeutic lines, from diabetes to hypertension
- Reports a presence in nine MENA countries
- Listed by Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health as a local manufacturer