Lichtwer Pharma

The Lichtwer Pharma AG is a Founded in 1981 pharmaceutical company based in Berlin . Well-known products are the St. John's wort preparation Jarsin and Kwai garlic preparations .

Foundation and upswing

The company was founded in 1981 by Kuno Lichtwer and has developed into one of the leading manufacturers of herbal medicines in Germany. The annual turnover rose to around 100 million DM (approx. 50 million euros) by 1991. The number of employees grew from two to over 300. In addition to spin-off subsidiaries, the pharmaceutical manufacturers Omega Pharma and Sertürner Arzneimittel (Gütersloh) were acquired. In 1996 the company was the market leader in the field of garlic products and planned further increases in sales for the next few years.

Burglary and restructuring

In 1999 Lichtwer Pharma achieved sales of approx. 180 million euros (353 million DM) with 353 employees, but without posting any profits. In this difficult market situation, the company invested in a new production facility in order to return to profitability by boosting foreign sales. At the same time, Lichtwer Pharma gave up exclusive sales through pharmacies from 1998 to 2000 and also introduced the products in drugstores . In the case of pure pharmacy sales, sales losses of more than 30% (presumably due to higher additional payments) for the garlic preparations were recorded up to 1998. As a result, however, total mixed trade sales fell by over 50%. A comprehensive restructuring was initiated from 2000, which among other things went hand in hand with halving the number of employees to just 164. The over-the-counter sale of the products has also been lifted and batches from drugstores have been bought back, some extensively. The brand image should be restored through specialist sales through doctors and pharmacies. As early as 1998, Lichtwer financed a study by Charité professor Holger Kiesewetter on the effects of garlic on vascular diseases , which was subsequently accused of scientific deficiencies in the evaluation.

In 2004 the company was taken over by 3i Group PLC .