Aurica

Aurica is a German maker of natural remedies and natural-care products based in Dillingen, in the Saarland region. The company traces its roots to 1979, when Manfred and Gisela Schütz started a mail-order business for natural remedies [2]. It took its present name after buying a regional competitor, AURICA GmbH, in 1985, and over the following decades grew into a pharmacy-focused producer of herbal medicines, teas, dietary supplements and a small line of body-care products. The legal name of the company is AURICA Naturheilmittel und Naturwaren GmbH.

The brand's current status is unclear. A court notice published in September 2026 shows the operating company in insolvency proceedings before the local court in Saarbrücken [7], and by October 2026 its former web address no longer carried the brand. Whether the business has closed, been sold or continues to trade is not documented.

Manfred and Gisela Schütz founded the business as a mail-order supplier of natural remedies and opened a shop of their own in Saarbrücken-Klarenthal in the same year. According to the company's history, the couple were driven by an interest in holistic health, in staying well by natural means and in healthy eating. The business first traded as "Gisela Schütz Naturheilmittelversand", roughly "Gisela Schütz natural-remedy mail order".

The Aurica name entered the story six years later. In 1985 the mail-order firm acquired AURICA GmbH, a regional competitor that specialised in retail, which brought the number of company-owned shops to two [2]. Between 1987 and 1990 the two businesses merged fully into AURICA Naturheilmittel und Naturwaren GmbH. The founding date of the original AURICA GmbH is not documented; the year 1979 refers to the Schütz mail-order business that became today's company.

Once merged, the company moved its weight from shops to production. It concentrated on making natural remedies and on supplying pharmacies with its own products. In 1993 Alexander Schütz took over management, the second generation of the family to run the business; by then it had 20 employees and supplied customers across Germany [2].

A licence to manufacture natural medicines followed in 1994, marking the start of the company's own production of medicinal products. Steady growth led to a move to larger premises in Schwalbach-Elm, also in Saarland, in 1998. A quality management system for the company's own products arrived in 2001, and in 2004–2005 a new office building went up while production was expanded.

The company presents 2006 as a turning point. Amid what it calls a general crisis, Aurica reorganised its business and refreshed its corporate identity, turning its focus to pharmacies and stepping up its work with the major pharmaceutical wholesalers [2]. A licence for the wholesale of medicinal products followed in 2007, together with certification to the ISO 9001 quality-management and ISO 14001 environmental-management standards, which were renewed in later years. A packaging redesign with a fresher, more colourful look began rolling out in 2015.

The last major step in the company's own account is a new headquarters. To ease bottlenecks in production, storage and logistics, Aurica built a new company building in Dillingen between 2017 and 2019 and moved in during January 2019. That July it received a licence under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), the quality standard for making medicines, to produce herbal medicinal products at the new site [2].

Aurica describes its guiding idea as offering natural answers to health questions, a principle the company says has shaped its development since its founding [3]. Its motto is "Natürlich für Sie" ("Naturally for you"). In its own words, those values show in fair, partnership-based cooperation, in products meant to meet high standards and in the careful choice of raw materials from sustainable cultivation. The company points to certifications from independent bodies as evidence of that commitment.

Body care is only a small part of a broader health range. Alongside it, Aurica has sold dietary fibre products under the Flosano name, the Basenbalance series aimed at the body's acid–base balance, the women's wellbeing line Femica, the bitter-herb range Herbitter, hemp products and a large assortment of medicinal, herbal and green teas. Another line follows traditional recipes or draws on the teachings of the medieval abbess Hildegard von Bingen, with herbs, spices and wine preparations. Distribution has centred on pharmacies.

The body-care range is compact, at around nine products built on familiar natural ingredients. It is anchored by Melkfett (literally "milking fat"), which the company describes as a long-established, additive-free care product for cracked and dry skin. A variant with calendula is sold as a protective cream for dry, rough skin that also suits foot care. Melkfett is one of two products listed under the manufacturer's name in the Gelbe Liste, a German directory of pharmaceutical products, the other being a senna-leaf tea [5].

Two ointments carry the range's herbal character. The calendula ointment, Ringelblumen Salbe, is presented as a traditional skin-care remedy for dry skin, while the propolis ointment combines propolis, beeswax, witch hazel and allantoin for sensitive, stressed skin. The line is completed by an aloe vera gel with a high share of aloe leaf gel, a Dead Sea bath salt and three organic oils: castor, jojoba and St John's wort. The organic claim applies to these individual oils and to a separate organic range, not to the brand as a whole. No third-party cosmetic certifications, such as cruelty-free or natural-cosmetics seals, are documented.

Aurica's status is unknown. A notice dated 18 September 2026 in insolvency proceedings over the assets of AURICA Naturheilmittel und Naturwaren GmbH, held at the Saarbrücken local court, set 16 October 2026 as a special date for examining creditor claims filed late [7]. When the proceedings opened and how they will end are not stated.

The company's website still presented the brand and its range in early 2026, but by October 2026 the former address served an unrelated page. At the same time, the online pharmacy Shop Apotheke still listed one Aurica product, the 250 ml Melkfett [6]. No source states whether the company has ceased trading, been sold or continues to operate.