1866

The foundation

Willmar Schwabe

In 1866, the 26-year-old pharmacist Dr. Willmar Schwabe laid the cornerstone for the success of his company: he founded a "manufacturing facility for dispensing medicines." His goal was to research and produce premium medicines at a standardized and consistent quality.

1872

Hamamelis Extract is going to market

Hametum Portfolio Historisch

Dr. Schwabe published his Pharmacopoeia Homoeopathica Polyglottica in German, English and French. This reference work was the predecessor of what is now the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia and the homeopathic section of the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.). In the same year, a witch-hazel extract was first marketed as a phytopharmaceutical product. Over time it evolved into Hametum® ointment.

1926

New facility in Leipzig

Schwabe-Gebäude in Leipzig

The company, which had grown to a staff of 300 employees, moved into a new facility in the Paunsdorf neighbourhood of Leipzig. Greenhouses and fields for medicinal plants were also established there. By that time, Schwabe was present all around the globe, including the Indian subcontinent as well as the Transvaal (now part of South Africa), Brazil and Mexico.

1941

Crataegutt® - strength for the heart

Advertisment for Crataegutt® out of the 50s

The hawthorn-leaf product Crataegutt® was marketed. It contained a standardised hawthorn extract and served as a pioneer in terms of how research was conducted on other herbal special extracts.

1945

The site in Karlsruhe-Durlach was opened

Pforte_WIllmar-Schwabe-Straße

Especially at its new site in Karlsruhe-Durlach, from 1945 onward the company focussed more and more on research and development of phytopharmaceuticals which fulfilled the standards of western medicine. In the years that followed, Schwabe built new buildings for administration, research and production.

1961

Foundation of DHU

DHU-Gebäude

Deutsche Homöopathie-Union (DHU) was established as an independent company within the Schwabe Group. To this day it specialises in developing, manufacturing and distributing homeopathic drugs. The company Dr. Willmar Schwabe Arzneimittel concentrated on research and development of phytopharmaceuticals.

1965

EGb 761® - the beginning of a success story

Historical advertising poster of Tebonin

Tebonin® liquidum was marketed. It was followed in 1967 by Tebonin® film-coated tablets as well as Tebonin® sustained-release film-coated tablets. The ginkgo special extract EGb 761® in Tebonin® is now considered the world's most thoroughly researched and best-documented herbal extract.

1976

Premium-quality raw materials - organically grown

Terra Medica Pavillon

At a site near Karlsruhe, Schwabe began organically growing the medicinal plants needed to manufacture its proprietary products. Terra Medica, as the area is called, has been organically certified since 1998. But: In 1979, the Schwabe company was already been awarded the “Silver Plant” by the Foundation for the Protection of Endangered Plants for its endeavours to cultivate protected plant species. The visitor centre embedded in the complex was nominated for the Baden Architecture Prize in 2022.

1977

Expanding the company's international role

Klaus-Peter Schwabe and Wolf-Dietrich Schwabe

Dr. Wolf-Dietrich Schwabe (left), who studied business, and Dr. Klaus-Peter Schwabe, a trained biochemist, became members of the company's senior management in 1976 and 1977. In 1986, Norbert Keller was appointed to the executive board as well. From that time onward, Dr. Willmar Schwabe Arzneimittel gradually became today's globally active Schwabe Group by founding companies as well as acquiring other businesses and becoming shareholders.

2003

Portfolio expanded horizontally thanks to nutritional supplements

Headquarters of Nature's Way in Green BAy, Wisconsin.

In 2003, the Schwabe Group's portfolio expanded horizontally. The business sectors of phytopharmaceuticals and homeopathic drugs grew to include premium-quality nutritional supplements, which were distributed in North America only until 2021.

2016

Olaf Schwabe becomes the CEO of the Schwabe Group

Olaf Schwabe

In 2016, Olaf Schwabe, the great-great grandson of the company founder Dr. Willmar Schwabe, took on leadership of the corporate group. As the CEO, Olaf Schwabe is also the head of a four-member Group Executive Team (GET) which is responsible for the Group’s global strategy and its business management. The other members of the GET are Dr. Anke Balzer, Patrick Krauth, Joachim Thole and Dr. Frank Waimer.

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