# Aureliasan ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 2005 | | Origin | Germany | | Headquarters | Bisingen (Zollernalbkreis, Baden-Württemberg); founded in Tübingen | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | Germany (stated for BOSWELLIASAN capsules and their frankincense extract) | | Distribution | Pharmacy | | Website | https://aureliasan.de/ | Aureliasan is a German maker of frankincense-based skincare, registered as AureliaSan GmbH and based in Bisingen in the Zollernalbkreis district of Baden-Württemberg. It was founded in 2005 in Tübingen by the pharmacist Winfried Ertelt and his son, the pharmacist Johannes Ertelt, and grew out of the family's local pharmacy [2]. Its range consists of four topical products built around frankincense extract, a gel, a lotion and two creams, alongside frankincense capsules sold as a food supplement and, separately, as a medicine. The company places considerable weight on academic research. It worked with university chemists and pharmacologists on a federally funded research project from 2008, set up an accredited online training course on frankincense for pharmacy staff, and keeps a scientific advisory board of professors and industry pharmacists. Its products have been sold through German pharmacies since 2007. The brand is active. Its most detailed independent coverage is a small user test of its Psorelia cream run by a German patient magazine [9]. ## Origin & founders The story begins in a pharmacy laboratory. Winfried Ertelt ran the Hohenzollern-Apotheke in Bisingen from 1976 to 2013. According to the company, in the early 1990s he became interested in applying frankincense to the skin, an idea inspired by the work of Prof. Dr. H.P.T. Ammon, a pharmacologist at the University of Tübingen who had been studying the resin's active compounds. Ertelt began making his own frankincense extracts in his pharmacy lab and blending them into different cream and gel bases. The company says that positive feedback from customers led him to contact Ammon, with the aim of having the active ingredients examined scientifically. In 2005 Winfried Ertelt and his son Johannes founded AureliaSan GmbH in Tübingen. The business later moved its seat to Bisingen, the town where the family pharmacy stands. Johannes Ertelt has run a second pharmacy in the town, the Heidelberg-Apotheke, since 2005, and has owned both family pharmacies since 2014. Aureliasan describes itself as "a research-oriented family business that grew out of the pharmacy" (in the company's German: "ein aus der Apotheke heraus entstandenes, forschendes Familienunternehmen"). ## History & milestones Two years after the company was founded, its products went on sale. Since 2007 they have been available in German pharmacies and online through the pharmacy shop weihrauch-apotheke.de. In 2008 the company received research funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology [2]. The project brought in two university groups: Prof. Dr. Oliver Werz at the University of Tübingen, who later moved to the University of Jena, and Prof. Dr. Johann Jauch at Saarland University. The company's own pages differ on how long the funding lasted. The page for its training academy says the project was funded "from 2008 to 2012" [8], while the page on its scientific advisory board says the research was funded over three years [3]. Both pages are undated, and the exact length of the funding is unresolved. One result of that collaboration was the Weihrauch-Akademie, an online course on frankincense for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, doctors and alternative practitioners. In 2012 the company received the e-learning Award 2012 for this learning platform [2]. The company also lists an information website, weihrauch.org, which it promoted in a press release as the first scientific information platform on frankincense. At the end of 2010 the company supplied its Psorelia cream for a two-week user test organised with the German patient magazine Psoriasis-Netz, which published the results in October 2011. The test is described under Recognition & reception below. More recent dated communications include a press release, distributed through the pharmacy trade portal APOTHEKE ADHOC in March 2022, that presented the BOSWELLIASAN capsules. In its news section the company announced that it would appear as frankincense experts in a television programme titled "Weihrauch zwischen Mystik und Medizin" ("Frankincense between mysticism and medicine") in the first week of January 2023 [4]; the broadcaster is not named. ## Ownership AureliaSan GmbH is a privately held limited company registered at the district court of Stuttgart, with Johannes Ertelt named as managing director in its legal notice [7]. No parent company is named. The Ertelt family's pharmacies in Bisingen are closely linked to the business but operate as separate enterprises rather than as owners of the brand. No acquisitions or changes of ownership are documented. ## Philosophy & positioning Aureliasan presents itself as a pharmacy-rooted research company rather than a conventional cosmetics brand. Its tagline is "Die Welt des Weihrauchs und erforschter Pflanzenextrakte", which translates as "the world of frankincense and researched plant extracts". The company says it works with scientifically studied plant extracts, chiefly frankincense, and develops cosmetics and other health-related products, as well as offering advice. Its stated aims are twofold: to keep its products in line with current scientific knowledge about medicinally used natural products, and to add to medical knowledge about frankincense. The company's mission, in its own words, is to research "new constituents, innovative and gentle extraction methods and new mechanisms of action" of what it calls an old medicinal plant. On the page introducing its advisory board, it says it places the highest value on scientific substantiation. Much of the company's website is given over to explaining frankincense itself. It describes the resin-producing trees of the genus Boswellia, which grow in dry regions of the Horn of Africa, Arabia and India, and the main species used for frankincense. In the company's account, Indian frankincense (Boswellia serrata) plays little role in incense burning but is the most important species in medicine, and is the only frankincense species listed in the pharmacopoeia, the official reference book of medicines. The site also points out that the essential oil that gives burning frankincense its scent has no known significant role in its medical effect. This explanation underpins the brand's positioning as a pharmacy product for skin and joint care. Speaking to a patient magazine in 2011, Johannes Ertelt said that frankincense preparations on the market vary widely in quality, especially imports, and that the company's products are made under the strict rules of the German Medicines Act and the regulations governing pharmacy operations [9]. ## Science & innovation The scientific advisory board is a central part of how the company describes itself. Its members include Ammon, whom the company calls a "founding father" of frankincense research, with a focus on how boswellic acids, the resin's main active acids, block an enzyme involved in inflammation. The company notes that he has written more than 220 scientific papers. Werz, now a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of Jena, works on how inflammation is regulated, and Jauch, a professor of organic chemistry at Saarland University, studies the chemistry of frankincense and myrrh, including the isolation and synthesis of boswellic acids. Two pharmacists with experience of drug manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry, Petra Elten and Dr. Carsten Döhling, complete the board. According to the company, the results of its research cooperation were published in international scientific journals. The Weihrauch-Akademie course that grew out of the same partnership is accredited by Germany's Federal Chamber of Pharmacists, which awards two continuing-education points for completing it. Its aim, as described on the academy page, is to prepare pharmacy staff to advise customers who come to the pharmacy asking about frankincense. A press release from the company describes its extraction methods as designed to draw the active ingredients gently out of the resin while keeping its natural composition intact. No patents held by the company are documented. ## Products & innovation The core of the range is four topical products, each classed as a cosmetic and each built on frankincense extract: - **Arelia Weihrauch-Gel**, a gel marketed "for stressed joints in need of care". - **AureliaSan Weihrauch-Lotion**, a body lotion presented as care "from head to toe". - **Neurelia Weihrauch-Creme**, a cream aimed at the signs of dry skin. - **Psorelia Weihrauch-Creme**, a cream intended to give the skin a relaxed feel. According to a 2021 company press release, all four topical products contain only mild ingredients and no essential oils, which the company says can irritate sensitive skin further [10]. The brand's product page states that all its products are free of preservatives, synthetic fragrances, synthetic colourants, mineral oils and silicones [5]. No third-party certifications are documented. Alongside the skincare, Aureliasan sells capsules for internal use. BOSWELLIASAN capsules are a food supplement containing 400 mg of a standardised extract of Indian frankincense per capsule, described by the company as being of pharmaceutical quality and free of titanium dioxide and micelles [11]. Separately, the company lists 300 mg frankincense extract capsules that are classed as a medicine for therapeutic use rather than as a supplement. The products are sold through the Weihrauch-Apotheke and local pharmacies, which can order them through the pharmaceutical wholesale trade. ## Recognition & reception The company's one documented award is the e-learning Award 2012, given for its Weihrauch-Akademie online learning platform. A second prize in the 2019 Zukunftspreis Handel, a retail innovation award, appears in the company's news section, but it was awarded to the Ertelt pharmacies rather than to AureliaSan GmbH itself. The most detailed outside account of the brand comes from Psoriasis-Netz, a German online magazine for people with psoriasis. In an article published on 4 October 2011 and last updated in February 2025, the magazine reported on a test of Psorelia cream. At the end of 2010 the company provided two full-size tubes each to 40 users, who were asked to apply the cream to affected spots twice a day for two weeks. Only half of them followed those instructions. The results were mixed. Thirty-one participants, or 77.5 per cent, reported an improvement of around one school grade in at least one symptom such as scaling, redness, inflammation, dryness, tightness or thickened skin. Three reported no change and five said their skin had become worse [9]. Asked for an overall verdict, 55 per cent said the cream had helped, 20 per cent said it had not and the rest were undecided. While 72.5 per cent said they would recommend the cream, 45 per cent said they would not buy it, most often because they found it too expensive or because it worked less well than they had hoped. Johannes Ertelt responded to the price criticism in the article. He said the cream had been developed mainly for targeted use on small areas and as intensive cosmetic care, but many participants had needed to apply it over large areas of skin. At the time, the company planned to introduce a more fluid frankincense lotion for larger areas; a frankincense lotion is now part of its range. The magazine was frank about the limits of the exercise. It noted that the test had been run by the manufacturer itself, that all the ratings were the participants' own impressions, and that no standard clinical measurement of psoriasis severity was taken before or after use [9]. It also pointed to the small number of participants, the lack of a placebo comparison group and the short duration, citing Prof. Michelsen of the Immanuel hospital in Berlin, who holds that natural substances need at least three months to show an effect. Its conclusion was that, in this case, trying the cream was worth more than studying the results. ## Current status Aureliasan is active. Its website presents the full product range, and its legal notice names Johannes Ertelt as managing director of AureliaSan GmbH in Bisingen. Its products are sold through pharmacies. The company's public communication has been quiet in recent years: the newest dated item in its news section is the television appearance announced for January 2023. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 2005 | AureliaSan GmbH founded in Tübingen by Winfried Ertelt and his son Johannes Ertelt (company seat later Bisingen) | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | | 2007 | AureliaSan products become available in German pharmacies and online via www.weihrauch-apotheke.de | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | | 2008 | Research project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology; cooperation with Universität Tübingen (Prof. Werz) and Universität des Saarlandes (Prof. Jauch); the akademie page gives the funding period as 2008 to 2012 | https://aureliasan.de/weihrauch-akademie | | 2010 | End of 2010: AureliaSan supplies Psorelia cream to 40 users for a two-week user test reported by the patient magazine Psoriasis-Netz (published 4 Oct 2011) | https://www.psoriasis-netz.de/magazin/hautpflege/psorielia-test | | 2012 | AureliaSan receives the e-learning Award 2012 for its online learning platform www.weihrauch-akademie.de (accredited continuing education for pharmacists and PTAs) | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | | 2017 | AureliaSan GmbH releases the 30-minute DVD 'Weihrauch: zwischen Mystik & Medizin' (sold via weihrauch-apotheke.de) | https://www.weihrauch-apotheke.de/product/dvd-weihrauch-zwischen-mystik-medizin.546090.html | | 2021 | BOSWELLIASAN Weihrauch-Extrakt-Kapseln 400 mg (Boswellia serrata, food supplement) announced as new in the range (press release dated 05.08.2021) | https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/aureliasanr-erforschte-weihrauch-produkte-fuer-haut-und-gelenke/ | | 2023 | AureliaSan announces it appears as frankincense experts in a TV programme ('Weihrauch zwischen Mystik und Medizin - TV-Tipp') in the first week of January 2023; broadcaster not named on the listing | https://aureliasan.de/news | | — | Early 1990s: pharmacist Winfried Ertelt develops the idea of applying frankincense externally, inspired by Prof. Dr. H.P.T. Ammon's research, and makes his own extracts in his pharmacy lab | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | ## Awards {#belagg-awards} | Year | Awards | Category | Source | |---|---|---|---| | 2012 | e-learning Award 2012 | Online learning environment www.weihrauch-akademie.de | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Arelia® Weihrauch-Gel** — Für beanspruchte, pflegebedürftige Gelenke — https://aureliasan.de/weihrauch-produkte - **AureliaSan® Weihrauch-Lotion** — Für ein wohliges Pflegegefühl von Kopf bis Fuß — https://aureliasan.de/weihrauch-produkte - **Neurelia® Weihrauch-Creme** — Natürlich spürbar gegen die Zeichen trockener Haut — https://aureliasan.de/weihrauch-produkte - **Psorelia® Weihrauch-Creme** — Cremen für ein entspanntes Hautgefühl — https://aureliasan.de/weihrauch-produkte - **BOSWELLIASAN® Weihrauch-Extrakt-Kapseln 400 mg (food supplement, not a cosmetic)** — zeichnet sich durch 400 mg eines standardisierten Extrakts aus indischem Weihrauch (Boswellia serrata) in pharmazeutischer Qualität aus. — https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/aureliasanr-erforschte-weihrauch-produkte-fuer-haut-und-gelenke/ ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} Weihrauch-Extrakt (frankincense / Boswellia resin extract) — in all topical products · Boswellia serrata extract (Indian frankincense, standardised; in BOSWELLIASAN capsules) Source: https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/aureliasanr-erforschte-weihrauch-produkte-fuer-haut-und-gelenke/ ## Proprietary technologies & patents {#belagg-tech} - AureliaSan Weihrauch-Extrakt (the company's own researched frankincense extract used in all its topical products; not stated as a trademark) — https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/aureliasanr-erforschte-weihrauch-produkte-fuer-haut-und-gelenke/ ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **Psoriasis-Netz (patient magazine)** (2011) — Article 'Weihrauch-Creme getestet' (Inga Richter, 4 Oct 2011, updated 18 Feb 2025) on a two-week user test of Psorelia with 40 participants: 31 (77.5 %) reported improvement, 5 (12.5 %) worsening; 45 % would not buy, mainly over price (EUR 29.95 per 100 ml). The magazine notes the test was run by the manufacturer, with subjective ratings only, no PASI measurement and no placebo group. Quotes Johannes Ertelt. — https://www.psoriasis-netz.de/magazin/hautpflege/psorielia-test ## Sources 2. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten 3. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-wissenschaftliche-beirat 4. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/news 5. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/weihrauch-produkte 7. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/impressum-aureliasan 8. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/weihrauch-akademie 9. (T3) https://www.psoriasis-netz.de/magazin/hautpflege/psorielia-test 10. (T4) https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/aureliasanr-erforschte-weihrauch-produkte-fuer-haut-und-gelenke/ 11. (T4) https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/natuerlicher-mobilmacher-mit-standardisierten-inhaltsstoffen/ --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-05 Please cite with a link to the article URL.