PLIVA - Lachema a.s. was established according to the incorporation plan for the state enterprise Lachema and a licence from the Ministry of Industry naming the company the legal successor of the state enterprise Lachema on 27 March 1991. However, the company's history goes back much further. The Lachema Brno state enterprise started to manufacture and finish and pack pure, laboratory and specialty chemicals more than a half century ago. During 1950s Lachema became a major manufacturer of analytical reagents and indicators, dyes for microscopy, sugars, amino acids and a range of other chemicals and bio-chemicals.

In 1964, the Institute of Pure Chemicals was established, and  the crystallisation centre of the new company was formed by the merger of a number of plants specialising in various qualified chemical products under the well-known trade mark of Lachema.
In the late sixties, the company's production profile became more and more focused on the healthcare sector, and the manufacture of diagnostics first began in Brno. The year 1980 marked another significant milestone in the development of the company - pharmaceuticals were added to the range of products. The first generic anti-tumor preparation was cysplatinum injections, followed by other cytostatics and antidotes for cancer treatments.
The end of 1999, PLIVA, a multinational pharmaceuticals company, became the majority stockholder and a sound strategic partner. As a result of this important acquisition the name of the company was changed to PLIVA-Lachema in the middle of the year 2000. Having changed the trade name, PLIVA-Lachema fully integrated into the PLIVA Group. In line with its strategy, which was focused on generic drugs, especially cytostatics and medicines for supportive therapy, the non-core business portfolio was transferred to subsidiaries Lachema s.r.o. and PLIVA-Lachema Diagnostika s.r.o. in 2003 and 2004.