Benzidal

Benzidal is a small German maker of a single skincare product, Benzidal Hautbalsam, a skin balm based on chamomile and arnica extracts, Peru balsam and a resin solution in an ointment base. The business is based in the German town of Schlüchtern and is run as a sole proprietorship owned by the pharmacist Dr. Peter Homann [3]. German pharmacy references list the balm as the manufacturer's only product [2].

Little about the brand is public. It has no working website, no known social media presence and no known press coverage, and its founding year has never been published. What can be pieced together comes from the commercial register, pharmacy reference listings and the balm's own packaging. The brand's current status is unknown: the balm is still offered by German online pharmacies, but there is no sign of new activity in recent years.

Benzidal's origins appear to predate its current owner. Until 2019 the firm traded under a longer name, "Benzidal Herstellung pharmazeut. Erzeugnisse, Apotheker Dr. Fritz A. Müller", which translates roughly as "Benzidal, manufacture of pharmaceutical products, pharmacist Dr. Fritz A. Müller", with Dr. Peter Homann named as owner [3]. That name points to an earlier phase under a pharmacist called Müller, but no published source dates it or explains how the product came about.

The brand also has a close geographical link to one of Schlüchtern's pharmacies. Benzidal's listed address, Obertorstraße 38, and its telephone number are the same as those of the Alte Apotheke Schlüchtern, the town's oldest pharmacy. According to that pharmacy's published history, it passed in 1949 to the pharmacist Dr. Fritz August Müller, who leased it to Dr. Peter Homann in October 1979. Homann became its owner in 1985 and ran it with his wife until the end of 2018; since 2019 it has belonged to a pharmacy group owned by Christian Vasters [9]. The pharmacy's own account does not mention Benzidal, and no source describes the balm as the pharmacy's own label. The shared address, telephone number and names nonetheless suggest a close connection between the two.

The brand's documented history is almost entirely administrative. The earliest commercial-register publication shown for the firm dates from April 2004, at the district court in Hanau, and already names Dr. Peter Homann as owner. It is a register entry rather than a founding date. Further publications followed: an address change in 2009, changes to the address and name in August 2018, and in February 2019 the adoption of the shorter current name, "Benzidal, Inh. Dr. Peter Homann e. K." [3]. The abbreviation "Inh." stands for "Inhaber" (owner), and "e. K." marks a registered sole trader under German law.

The timing of the 2018–2019 changes coincides with the end of Homann's ownership of the Alte Apotheke, though no source links the two events directly.

Benzidal is not part of a larger group. It is a registered sole proprietorship held by Dr. Peter Homann, and no parent company, acquisition or sister brand is known.

Published contact details for the firm differ. Gelbe Liste, a German pharmaceutical reference database, and the manufacturer information shown by several online pharmacies give Obertorstraße 38, Schlüchtern [2]. Another German online retailer, volksversand.de, lists Am Ziegelanger 12 in the same town [8]. The register's address changes in 2009 and 2018 suggest that one of the two is an older address, most likely the Ziegelanger one, which does not appear in the newer product-safety listings. The town is the same in both cases.

The brand's one product, Benzidal Hautbalsam, is sold in 75 ml and 1,000 ml packs. Its packaging text, in a version dated June 2017, describes it as a balm for skin care, including rough and cracked skin, with a soothing, cooling and disinfecting effect, and recommends it in particular for children's skin [6]. Retailers summarise it more briefly as care with chamomile and arnica for dry, cracked skin.

The formula is a traditional ointment. Its listed ingredients include petrolatum, lanolin, water, zinc oxide, talc and liquid paraffin, alongside plant-derived components: chamomile and arnica flower extracts, Peru balsam, benzoin and myrrh. The packaging describes these as extracts of chamomile and arnica flowers, Peru balsam and resin solution in a neutral ointment base. No vegan, fragrance-free or similar claims are made, and no third-party certifications are known.

Although it is sold mainly through pharmacies, the balm is not legally restricted to them. One online pharmacy lists it as neither prescription-only nor pharmacy-only [4], while another markets it as dermocosmetics from the pharmacy [5].

Benzidal's status is unknown, as the signals point in different directions. The firm remains entered in the commercial register, with its last published change dating from February 2019 [3]. The website address given in its manufacturer details, benzidal.de, shows only a placeholder page with the domain name and no brand content [1]. No recent product launches, news coverage or social media accounts are known.

The balm itself is still in retail distribution. In October 2026 it was listed as available for immediate dispatch by one German online pharmacy [7], while several others showed it as unavailable or sold out. The retailers known to carry it are all based in Germany, and the product is labelled as originating there.