Schwabe’s emphasis on the quality and effectiveness of its products has made it one of the most trusted names in the field of natural medicine internationally. The company follows stringent World Health Organisation (WHO) standards of Good Manufacturing Practice. An intensive research and development process drives the company, which has led to many exciting innovations and new products. This is backed up by state-of-the-art manufacturing and a strong global marketing presence.
Schwabe has a vast network of subsidiaries, joint ventures and country distributors across the world. In Pakistan it is represented by three nationwide sole distributors – Dr. Hamid General Homoeo Pvt. Ltd., Darul Adviat and Hameed Organization – and Repcom Advertising, the advertising agency for Pakistan directly appointed by Schwabe Germany.
Founded on the ability to act rapidly to market demands and thanks to a vibrant network of partners, the company’s share in the European, American and Asia-Pacific markets has been constantly increasing over the years and international business constitutes a large part of its turnover. The company is building on this development by intensifying efforts to provide innovative high-quality products for the 21st century.
Pakistani partners have a thriving and progressive business relationship with Schwabe Germany and continue to make a growing contribution to its advertising, marketing and sales in this country. As a result of their efforts and backed by strong support from the principals, today Schwabe is the most popular and trusted homoeopathic brand in Pakistan with a whopping 70 per cent share of all homoeopathic and biochemic products imported in Pakistan.
The homoeopathic system of medicine is highly favoured among the populace of Pakistan for a variety of reasons that include effectiveness of the remedies, absence of adverse side effects, and economy of cost that makes the benefits of the system available to the poorer sections of the society. However, above all, the popularity of homoeopathy in Pakistan is rooted in a long-standing tradition of trust that has existed in our region for generations.
After its advent Homoeopathy did not take much time to be introduced in South Asia. As early as 1810, some German physicians and missionaries landed in Bengal and started distributing homoeopathic remedies among the populace. By the middle of the nineteenth century, there were many amateur Homoeopaths among the civil and military services personnel in Bengal. A book published in London in 1852 by John Martin Hoenigberger, gives a glimpse of the beginning of homoeopathic practice in Lahore at the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the then ruler of the Punjab. Hoenigberger had learnt Homoeopathy from Hahnemann in Paris in 1835. In 1839, he came to India for the second time and took up treatment of the Maharaja.
The brand Schwabe is as highly favoured in Pakistan as Homoeopathy itself. In fact Schwabe is considered to represent Homoeopathy at its best by both the practitioners and the patients. The Schwabe Pakistan web site is dedicated to these loyal patrons of Schwabe in particular and all followers of Homoeopathy in Pakistan, both of old and the newly converted, in general.
Dr. Willmar Schwabe
Although Hahnemann had left behind a wide range of knowledge and a guide to manufacture homeopathic remedies in his “Organon of Healing”, “Materia Medica Pura” and “Chronic Diseases”, he did not leave behind detailed methods required for large-scale manufacture.
At that time, in the middle of the 19th century, homeopathic preparations were already in great demand. The preparations of those days were manufactured by pharmacists, varied, however, dramatically in quality and were sometimes even of questionable quality.
It was the young German pharmacist Dr. Willmar Schwabe (1839-1917) who was so dissatisfied with this situation that he set out to develop analytical methods and to define pharmaceutical technical processes. He introduced quality controls and organised the cultivation of his own medical plants.
In 1863 he took up the practical study of homeopathy and of Hahnemann’s specifications. By 1865, two years after his qualification as a pharmacist, he founded his own company “Homöopathische Centralofficin Dr. Willmar Schwabe” (Central Homeopathic Dispensary) in Leipzig, Germany. There, he had homeopathic remedies produced in compliance with Hahnemann’s stipulations and in addition described the manufacturing process in detail. The dispensary consisted of the wholesale and export business as well as the homeopathic central pharmacy.
His enterprise developed with such exceptional rapidity that it soon achieved European and few years later worldwide recognition. In accordance with his stringent quality criteria, homeopathic preparations were produced in industrial quantities. By and by, more than 700 regional dispensaries, distributed throughout Germany, Europe and all over the world, were added to the original “Centralofficin” in Leipzig. Having inaugurated the first homeopathic policlinic in Leipzig, Schwabe started his activities in the fields of health and social politics.
In 1866 he founded a publishing house specialising in literature for both the medical profession and the public (1866-1945). In 1872 Dr. Schwabe produced the standard work for homeopathic pharmaceuticals – the “Pharmacopoea Homeopathica Polyglottica”, which gave minutely detailed instructions on the production of homeopathic preparations. Soon, Schwabe’s work gained world-wide importance and was translated into many languages, like English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Russian. It was published in rapid sequences, appearing in the 5th (1901) to the 9th (1912) edition as the German Homeopathic Pharmacopeia and thus became legally binding in Germany.
In 1917 the founder of the company died, but his son Dr. Willmar Schwabe II continued his work. He published the next edition in 1924 as the Dr. Willmar Schwabe’s Homeopathic Pharmacopeia (Dr. Willmar Schwabe’s Homöopathisches Arzneibuch) and managed the company.
By 1935, the regional dispensaries beside the original “Centralofficin” in Leipzig distributed homeopathic products throughout the whole world. Even in Asia, especially in India, homeopathy became very popular and numerous dispensaries were founded. Since 1890 Dr. Willmar Schwabe Pharmaceuticals is an integral part of in the Indian market place. The production of Indian homeopathic remedies complies with the regulations of the German Homeopathic Pharmacopeia. After World War II, in 1946 the third Schwabe generation relocated business from Leipzig to Karlsruhe, Germany. At that time, Schwabe produced both homeopathic and phytotherapeutic products with great success.
In 1978 the first edition of the official German Homeopathic Pharmacopeia (=HAB), based on the Schwabe edition, was published by the Federal Ministry for Youth, Family and Health as a part of the German Pharmacopeia (=DAB). This meant that finally, homeopathy and its preparations had achieved official recognition like all other pharmaceuticals. Until today homeopathic remedies are produced in accordance to the official Homeopathic Pharmacopeia. In the tradition of Hahnemann, homeopathic remedies are still potentized in stepwise dilutions and succussed by hand. Modern industrial technology guarantees state-of-the-art production of homeopathic medicines.
