Pharmaceutical industry: the discreet weapon of Morocco

Discreetly, the kingdom has one of the most developed pharmaceutical ecosystem in Africa. The sector displays brilliant performance. In 2023, he recorded a record turnover of 21 billion dirhams, up 50% over a year. Morocco now covers almost 80% of its medication needs and rose to the second continental row, just behind Egypt, notes the magazine Young Africawhich devotes a file to the subject.

Behind the accounting balance sheets, they are above all stories of entrepreneurs, visionary families and daring Paris. The story started in 1933 with the creation of Cooper Pharma, then a simple import counter under French control. When Sanofi absorbs the French parent company in the 1990s, the laboratory changed in the Moroccan fold. This dynamic accelerates with the emergence of new actors: Sothema (1976), Galenica (1978), Pharma 5 (1985). The State supervised production in 1965 and founded in 1969 the National Laboratory for Medicines Control (LNCM), guaranteeing quality and sovereignty. Today, out of the fifty pharmaceutical laboratories active in Morocco, around thirty are Moroccan, including three champions who are active to produce for Morocco, but also for the world.

The story of Pharma 5 begins with a daring bet. In 1985, Abdallah Lahlou-Filali placed on the local manufacture of generics, then little prized. A political and social choice, which meets crucial needs: tuberculosis, infantile infections, water diseases. The state supports the initiative, aware of public health issues. Thirty years later, it was his daughter, Mia Lahlou-Filali, who takes the reins. By his side, his sister Yasmine, doctor of pharmacy, supervises the formulation of medicines.

Their last bet? A Smart Factory of 300 million dirhams, first pharmaceutical factory 4.0 in Africa, to support the royal ambition for generalization of universal health coverage. Already present in 45 countries, Pharma 5 ranks 5th laboratory on the continent. “”40% of drugs exported from Morocco are ours“Recalls Mia Lahlou-Filali. In 2024, the company obtained the first marketing authorization (AMM) for a cannabis -based drug in Morocco.

For his part, Cooper Pharma, led by Ayman Cheikh Lahlou, plays the card of strategic recovery. The company multiplies partnerships: joint ventures with India, Europe, Saudi Arabia. It specializes in strategic niches (hormones, female health) and relies on a transcontinental industrial network of nine factories.

More institutional but just as ambitious, Sothema, led by Lamia Tazi, has been listed on the stock market since 2005. She is now a Moroccan leader in the manufacture of biosimular anticancer. Its innovations made it possible to reduce the cost of certain treatments by 75%. During the pandemic, it is she who conditions the Sinopharm vaccine. Present in 45 countries, it capitalizes on its expertise as injectable and on a advanced infrastructure to consolidate its position on the African market.

Abdelghani El Guermaï continues to make his voice heard. Pioneer of the 1970s, he remains an ardent defender of local production. His laboratory, Galenica, exports throughout the region: Libya, Algeria, Saudi Arabia.