Cloderm

Cloderm is a German line of products built around clotrimazole, a common antifungal agent. It is owned and marketed by Dermapharm AG, a pharmaceutical company based in Grünwald near Munich [1]. The range spans two worlds that rarely share a name: an anti-dandruff shampoo sold as a cosmetic, and four pharmacy-only medicines (a cream, a liquid, a pump spray and a powder) for treating fungal infections of the skin [2].

Cloderm has no founding story in the usual sense. Its documented history begins with German marketing authorisations for the medicines, the earliest dated 25 September 1989 [6]. The brand is active: all five products remain in Dermapharm's current over-the-counter range, and the official prescribing information for the cream was updated in February 2025.

What is known about Cloderm's past comes almost entirely from regulatory paperwork rather than from company history. No founder, launch story or origin of the name is documented, and it is not recorded who held the authorisations when they were first granted or when the name was first used. This article therefore treats 1989, the year of the earliest authorisation, as the brand's starting point, not as a stated founding date.

The medicines arrived in quick succession. Cloderm Creme 1 % received its authorisation in September 1989 [6], followed by Cloderm liquid 1 % in October and a pump-spray version of the liquid in November of the same year. Cloderm Puder, a dusting powder, followed in May 1990 [9]. Each product carries its own German authorisation number, and the authorisations were renewed together in the first months of 2011, between January and April.

The shampoo has a separate and shorter paper trail. A patient brochure for Cloderm Anti-Schuppen Shampoo is dated June 2010, which shows the product was on the market by then, although its launch date is not stated [3]. A revised product leaflet followed in November 2020, with a slightly updated ingredient list that now also names sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. In the revision, the advice on how often to use the shampoo also changed: the 2010 brochure suggested two to three washes a week for the first three to four weeks and then a weekly wash, while the 2020 leaflet keeps two to three washes a week, allows one wash a week for prevention, and adds that the product should not be used continuously for longer than four weeks [5].

The most recent dated documents concern the medicines. The prescribing information for the liquid carries a September 2024 date, and that for the cream a February 2025 date.

Dermapharm AG, headquartered at Lil-Dagover-Ring 7 in Grünwald, is named as the marketing-authorisation holder on the prescribing information for each Cloderm medicine and as the responsible pharmaceutical company on its product pages [2]. Cloderm does not have a standalone website or its own social media presence; it is presented as one entry in Dermapharm's product navigator, alongside the group's other products.

Dermapharm describes itself as offering pharmaceutical excellence "Made in Germany" and highlights production and development in Germany on its corporate site [1]. Within the group, Cloderm sits beside other consumer health and skin-care names such as Melasan, Physiotop, Sikapur and Tebamol. The company also markets Ketozolin, a separate product it promotes for dandruff and itching, so Cloderm's shampoo is not Dermapharm's only scalp product.

No acquisitions, sales or changes of ownership involving Cloderm are documented.

Cloderm has no published mission statement, tagline or set of brand values. Its identity is functional: every product in the range is built on the same active ingredient at the same strength, 1 % clotrimazole, and each addresses a specific complaint rather than a general beauty routine.

The way the range is classified shapes how it is sold. The shampoo is registered as a cosmetic and is freely sold, while the cream, liquid, pump spray and powder are medicines that may be sold only in pharmacies. Even so, the 2020 shampoo leaflet tells users that the shampoo is available exclusively in pharmacies [5], placing the whole line within the pharmacy channel. Its positioning is therefore closer to medicated over-the-counter care than to a cosmetics brand.

Dermapharm's own description of the shampoo stresses cause over symptom. The company says the product works "gezielt gegen die Ursache übermäßiger Schuppenbildung", that is, specifically against the cause of excessive dandruff, and describes the shampoo as a high-quality product for cleansing and caring for hair affected by flaking.

The 2010 shampoo brochure also carried a short statement on environmental practice. In it, Dermapharm said it uses environmentally friendly materials where possible, citing brown glass instead of PVC as an example, and uses paper with a high share of recycled fibre for packaging, folding boxes and leaflets [3]. The statement covers the company as a whole rather than Cloderm specifically, and no third-party certifications are documented for the brand.

### Anti-Schuppen Shampoo

The shampoo is the only cosmetic in the range and comes in 50 ml and 100 ml bottles. Its active ingredient is 1 % clotrimazole, and the ingredient list also includes piroctone olamine, together with mild surfactants, conditioning agents and fragrance.

According to the 2020 leaflet, dandruff becomes a problem when too many skin cells are shed and clump together into visible flakes, often with itching. The leaflet attributes a key role to the yeast Pityrosporum ovale, a normal part of the scalp's microbial population that can multiply when the scalp's balance is disturbed. Clotrimazole, the company says, slows the growth of this organism and so helps reduce flaking [5]. The brochure adds that the scalp regains its natural balance, itching eases, and other ingredients leave the hair easy to style. These are the company's own efficacy statements; no clinical study is cited for the shampoo.

Users are told to massage the shampoo into damp hair, leave it on the scalp for about five minutes and rinse with lukewarm water. The leaflet advises against use during pregnancy and by people sensitive to clotrimazole, and recommends seeing a doctor if there is no improvement after four weeks, since persistent flaking can be a sign of a skin condition that needs medical treatment.

### The antifungal medicines

The four medicines share one active ingredient but differ in form. Cloderm Creme 1 % is a white cream sold in 20 g and 50 g tubes; Cloderm liquid 1 % is a colourless solution in a 30 ml bottle; the liquid is also available as a 30 ml pump spray; and Cloderm Puder is a white powder in a 30 g pack.

The cream and the liquid are authorised for fungal infections of the skin caused by dermatophytes (a group of skin-infecting fungi), yeasts such as Candida, moulds and Malassezia furfur, as well as infections by the bacterium Corynebacterium minutissimum. In practice this covers athlete's foot, fungal infections of the skin and skin folds, pityriasis versicolor (a yeast infection that causes patches of discoloured skin), erythrasma and superficial Candida infections. According to the official prescribing information, clotrimazole acts by blocking the fungi's production of ergosterol, a building block of their cell membranes [6].

The prescribing information sets out a treatment course of two to three applications a day, usually continued for at least four weeks so that the infection clears fully rather than just the symptoms. Pityriasis versicolor typically clears in one to three weeks, and for athlete's foot treatment is meant to continue about two weeks after the visible signs have gone.

The powder has a supporting role. It is intended to be used alongside an antifungal cream or solution, or as follow-up care, applied once or twice a day and for no longer than four to five weeks as aftercare. The liquid carries its own precautions: because it is flammable, users are told to avoid open flames, heat and hair dryers during and right after application, and it is not suitable for use in the ear canal [7].

All four medicines carry the same interaction warning: clotrimazole reduces the effectiveness of amphotericin and other polyene antifungals such as nystatin and natamycin.

Cloderm is an active brand. All five products, the shampoo and the four medicines, are listed in Dermapharm's current over-the-counter product range, and the prescribing information for the cream was most recently revised in February 2025. The products carry German marketing authorisations and German pharmacy codes, and the range is sold mainly through pharmacies. The brand has no separate website, social media accounts or documented press coverage, and its public presence is limited to Dermapharm's own product pages and regulatory documents.