Sothema & Professional Leadership
The company she chairs
Société de Thérapeutique Marocaine — founded in Bouskoura in 1976, first wholly Moroccan pharmaceutical industrialist, first African producer of insulin, first North African drug maker to list on a stock exchange. Lamia Tazi has led it as Chairwoman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer since 2019.
A Record of Firsts
Four things no Moroccan company had done before
First — 01
A genuine industrialist
The first wholly Moroccan pharmaceutical laboratory to operate as a real manufacturer rather than as an importer, repackager or licensing agent.
First — 02
Insulin, made in Africa
The first African producer of animal-origin insulin, with production beginning in the early 1980s at the Bouskoura site alongside injectable solutions.
First — 03
Publicly listed
The first North African pharmaceutical laboratory to go public, joining the Casablanca Stock Exchange in 2005 and accepting the disclosure obligations that come with it.
First — 04
Development, not only manufacture
In June 2023, a partnership announced as establishing the first galenic development and clinical trials platform in Africa and the Middle East.
Company History
Fifty years of building
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1976
Founded by Omar Tazi
Société de Thérapeutique Marocaine is founded on 26 January 1976, specialising in the manufacture and marketing of medicines. Its founder later published an autobiography, Mon histoire avec les médicaments, recording the company’s early years.
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1981–1983
Bouskoura, and the insulin decision
The Bouskoura industrial site is inaugurated, and production of injectable solutions and insulin follows in the early 1980s. Choosing insulin — a biological product with severe quality and cold chain requirements — as an early specialisation set the company’s technical trajectory for the next forty years.
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1997–1998
Lamia Tazi joins
She enters the company in 1997 and takes up the statutory role of responsible pharmacist in 1998, beginning a career that would run through general management to the chairmanship.
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2005
Listing in Casablanca
Sothema becomes the first North African pharmaceutical company to go public, listing on the Casablanca Stock Exchange. Public capital, public accounts, public scrutiny.
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2019–2020
Lamia Tazi appointed Chairwoman & CEO
The board appoints her to lead the company, with the founder moving to chair a newly created strategic committee. The change is announced publicly in January 2020.
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2023
Development platform and Gulf presence
The galenic development and clinical trials platform is announced with Baylor College of Medicine, Dassault Systèmes, ReGenLab and Moroccan ministries. A scientific office opens in Saudi Arabia in October.
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2024–2025
Capacity and consolidation
A new storage facility opens in November 2024 at a reported investment of some US$20 million. In July 2025 the group announces an agreement to acquire 99.99% of Soludia Maghreb at an enterprise value of approximately MAD 1 billion, adding haemodialysis to the portfolio.
Footprint
Where the company operates
A Moroccan manufacturer with industrial presence, offices and market reach across three regions.
The industrial base
Headquarters and principal manufacturing at Bouskoura, on a site extending over 60,000 square metres, with capability across thirteen pharmaceutical forms including aseptic operations for injectables and biologicals.
Group scale: eight production units and an annual production capacity reported at around 60 million units.
Dakar and beyond
A production site in Dakar, Senegal, operated through the group’s subsidiary West Afric Pharma, combining local manufacturing with technology transfer and the training of African technical staff.
Offices: Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon, supporting registration and distribution across West and Central African markets.
Markets and contract work
Presence reported in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, where a scientific office opened in October 2023. Exports reach the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa and the Persian Gulf.
Europe: engagement is principally through contract manufacturing for European principals rather than own-brand distribution.
Scale, in reported figures
- Revenue 2024
- Approximately US$306 million, per Forbes Middle East
- Nine months 2024
- US$203.7 million reported for the first nine months
- Consolidated 2025
- Estimated at approximately MAD 3.5 billion (about US$350 million) following the Soludia Maghreb transaction
- Consolidated EBITDA 2025
- Indicated above MAD 800 million
- Production capacity
- Around 60 million units annually
- Contract clients
- 35+ national and international laboratories
Financial figures are as reported publicly by Forbes Middle East, World Bank Live profiles and market reporting on the Soludia Maghreb transaction. Currency conversions are approximate and move with exchange rates.
Her Position
What she holds, and where else
At Sothema, Lamia Tazi holds both the chair of the board and the office of chief executive. She has also been reported to have continued in the role of responsible pharmacist after her promotion to general management — a continuity of personal technical accountability that is unusual at this level.
Her other publicly reported professional positions:
- Managing Director, Advanced Scientific Developments
- Board member, West Afric Pharma (Senegal) — also reported as President of West Africa Pharma
- Board member, Azerys (Morocco)
- Board member and reported President, Axess Pharma (Morocco)
- Board member, Leiden Pharma (Netherlands)
- Vice-President General, FMIIP — Moroccan Federation of the Pharmaceutical Industry and Innovation, elected September 2021
- Board member, CGEM — General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises
- Executive bureau, ASMEX — Moroccan Association of Exporters