Company: Sothema
Country: Morocco
Sector: Pharmaceuticals: Major
CEO: Lamia Tazi (Chairwoman and CEO)
Website: https://www.sothema.com/
Careers Page: https://www.sothema.com/carreers/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/laboratoire-sothema
Email: Not publicly listed
Headquarters: Bouskoura, Casablanca-Settat region, Morocco
Founded: 1976
Valuation/Revenue: $733.0m market value (African Business Top 250, 2025 ranking)
Sothema (Société de Thérapeutique Marocaine) is a 100%-Moroccan-owned pharmaceutical manufacturer based near Casablanca that produces generic drugs, licensed medicines and custom pharmaceutical forms for dozens of international partner laboratories. Founded in 1976, it is one of Morocco’s largest and most internationally connected drugmakers, led by chairwoman and chief executive Lamia Tazi.
What Does Sothema Do?
Sothema manufactures across 13 different pharmaceutical dosage forms, producing roughly 60 million units a year on behalf of itself and some 35 partner laboratories, including global originators that use Sothema as a licensed manufacturing and distribution partner for the Moroccan and wider regional market. Its business spans custom (toll) manufacturing, generics production, and licensed-product manufacturing and marketing, with an export network reaching the Maghreb, Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Europe and the Gulf. In 2025 the company expanded beyond core pharmaceuticals by acquiring 99.99% of Soludia Maghreb, a producer of hemodialysis solutions, for a deal built around projected annual revenue of roughly MAD360 million (about $40 million) with earn-outs of up to MAD95 million (about $10.5 million) tied to performance.
Is Sothema Legit?
Yes. Sothema is a long-established, formally regulated pharmaceutical manufacturer operating under Moroccan and international good-manufacturing-practice standards, and it is one of the largest homegrown industrial groups in Morocco’s healthcare sector, regularly featured in African Business’s ranking of the continent’s largest companies.
How Big Is Sothema?
African Business’s Top 250 (2025) valued Sothema at approximately $733 million in market value, reflecting both its scale of production and its strategic position as a manufacturing partner for multinational pharmaceutical companies seeking a foothold in Francophone and Sub-Saharan African markets. The company’s founder-chair, Lamia Tazi, holds an approximately 8.4% personal stake and has been recognised among Africa’s most prominent business figures for steering the company’s growth and diversification.
Who Is the CEO of Sothema?
Lamia Tazi serves as both Chairwoman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, a dual role she has held for years as the company’s most visible strategic leader. She has driven Sothema’s push into new therapeutic areas and export markets, and has been widely covered in African business media for both operational moves (such as the Soludia Maghreb acquisition) and personal wealth fluctuations tied to her Sothema shareholding.
Who Owns Sothema?
Sothema describes itself as a wholly Moroccan-owned company; Lamia Tazi and her family are among the principal shareholders, alongside other Moroccan institutional and private investors, with the balance of shares free-floating on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, where Sothema is listed.
Where Is Sothema Headquartered?
Sothema’s industrial and administrative headquarters are located in Bouskoura, in the Casablanca-Settat region of Morocco, close to the country’s largest commercial hub and port infrastructure, which supports its export operations.
What Has Sothema Been in the News For Recently?
In late 2025, Sothema was reported to be pursuing acquisition of rights to CIALIS, the erectile-dysfunction medication brand, from Eli Lilly, in a deal under formal approval review that would let Sothema broaden its specialised therapy portfolio and improve regional patient access to a branded product. This followed the 2025 purchase of Soludia Maghreb, extending Sothema into the hemodialysis solutions segment. Both moves reflect Tazi’s stated strategy of strengthening local manufacturing and widening Sothema’s treatment offerings across the African continent, rather than relying solely on its traditional generics and toll-manufacturing business.
How Does Sothema Compare to Its Competitors?
Sothema competes with other major Moroccan and regional pharmaceutical manufacturers such as Cooper Pharma and Promopharm, as well as multinational generics and originator companies operating in North Africa. Its differentiator has been its role as a trusted local manufacturing partner for global pharmaceutical brands entering African markets, a niche that has allowed it to combine steady generics revenue with higher-margin licensed and specialty products.
How Old Is Sothema and How Has It Grown?
Founded in 1976, Sothema built its early business around licensed manufacturing agreements with multinational pharmaceutical companies seeking local production capacity to serve the Moroccan market under national industrialisation policies. Over five decades the company expanded from single-line generics manufacturing into a diversified platform spanning custom (toll) manufacturing for third-party brands, its own generics portfolio, and, more recently, adjacent healthcare segments such as hemodialysis solutions through the Soludia Maghreb acquisition. This trajectory mirrors a broader pattern among leading Moroccan industrial groups of using early import-substitution manufacturing as a springboard into higher-value, export-oriented and increasingly diversified healthcare businesses.
How Do I Contact Sothema?
Sothema maintains a general contact page on its corporate website for business, partnership and media enquiries; the company does not appear to publish a direct public customer-service email address, consistent with its business-to-business and pharmacy-distribution model rather than direct-to-consumer retail.
Links
Website: https://www.sothema.com/
Careers Page: https://www.sothema.com/carreers/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/laboratoire-sothema
Email: Not publicly listed
FAQ
Is Sothema legit?
Yes, it is a formally regulated, publicly traded Moroccan pharmaceutical manufacturer founded in 1976.
Who is the CEO of Sothema?
Lamia Tazi, who is also Chairwoman of the Board.
Who owns Sothema?
It is 100% Moroccan-owned, with Lamia Tazi and her family among the largest shareholders and the remainder held by Moroccan investors and the public float on the Casablanca Stock Exchange.
Where is Sothema headquartered?
In Bouskoura, near Casablanca, Morocco.
How old is Sothema?
It was founded in 1976, making it nearly 50 years old.
What does Sothema do?
It manufactures generic, licensed and custom-formulated pharmaceuticals, producing around 60 million units annually for itself and 35 partner laboratories.