# DHU ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 1961 | | Origin | Germany | | Headquarters | Karlsruhe | | Owner | Dr. Willmar Schwabe Gruppe | | Status | Active | | Manufacturing | Karlsruhe-Durlach, Germany (production), Terra Medica, Stutensee-Staffort near Karlsruhe, Germany (own medicinal-plant cultivation) | | Distribution | Pharmacy | | Website | https://www.dhu.de/ | DHU, in full Deutsche Homöopathie-Union DHU-Arzneimittel GmbH & Co. KG, is a German manufacturer of homeopathic medicines and Schüßler salts based in Karlsruhe. It is part of the family-owned Dr. Willmar Schwabe Group, and the company dates its own founding to 1961, when the group set up a separate business for its homeopathic line [3]. Its roots, however, reach back to 1866, when the pharmacist Willmar Schwabe opened a homeopathic dispensary in Leipzig [2]. DHU describes itself as Germany's largest maker of homeopathic single remedies and Schüßler salts. Its range runs from globules and tablets to drops and ointments, and it grows much of its plant material on its own organic farm, Terra Medica, near Karlsruhe. Its closest link to beauty is a mineral-salt tablet the company markets for hair, skin and connective tissue. The company remains active. ## Origin & founders The story begins with Willmar Schwabe (1839–1917), a pharmacist who in 1866 opened the "Homöopathische Centralofficin Dr. Willmar Schwabe" in Leipzig. According to the company, he made homeopathic medicines for wholesale and export, and the Leipzig business grew a network of more than 700 depots in Germany, elsewhere in Europe and overseas. DHU credits him with being among the first to produce homeopathic remedies on an industrial scale. To keep that production consistent, Schwabe standardised his manufacturing rules and in 1872 wrote the *Pharmacopoea Homoeopathica Polyglottica*, a multilingual handbook of preparation methods. The company traces a direct line from this book to the German Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia (HAB), which became binding in Germany in 1934 and was absorbed into the homeopathic part of the official German Pharmacopoeia in 1978. As part of European harmonisation, the HAB is gradually being folded into the European Pharmacopoeia. A second strand of the story concerns Schüßler salts. The Oldenburg physician Wilhelm Heinrich Schüßler (1821–1898) developed a therapy built on twelve mineral salts prepared in the homeopathic way, by repeated dilution and grinding, which he called "biochemistry". In 1873, the same year Schüßler published his "abbreviated therapy", Schwabe began offering an "Apotheke nach Schüßler" — a set of the salts made to Schüßler's specifications and sold with instructions [6]. DHU treats that year as the origin of its Schüßler-salt business and markets the products as "the original since 1873". After Schwabe's death his son of the same name ran the firm. After the Second World War the third generation of owners, Reinhold Willmar Schwabe and Willmar Carl Wolfgang Schwabe, moved the company's seat from Leipzig to Karlsruhe. Schüßler salts were being made there from 1946, and the "Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH" was founded in the city in 1947. The operation left behind in Leipzig took a different path: it was nationalised in 1952 as "VEB Homöopharm Dr. Willmar Schwabe" and in 1957 became "VEB Leipziger Arzneimittelwerk", a state-owned enterprise of the German Democratic Republic. ## History & milestones Two accounts exist of how DHU itself came into being in 1961. The company's own version is that Schwabe was focusing more and more on herbal medicines, so it created DHU within the group to take over homeopathy and Schüßler salts, carrying with it the experience gathered since 1866 [3]. German Wikipedia gives a different origin: it says DHU arose in 1961 from a merger of two former competitors, Dr. Madaus & Co. and Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH, and that this "corporate marriage" was dissolved in 1969 while the name survived [11]. DHU's own history pages do not mention Madaus. Both accounts agree on the year. The early locations are also told differently. German Wikipedia places the company in Dortmund in 1961, in Karlsruhe-Grötzingen from 1971, and in Karlsruhe-Durlach since 1983 [11]. The company's history does not mention Dortmund, but both accounts end in the same place: in 1983 DHU moved onto the former Grundig production site on Ottostraße in Karlsruhe-Durlach, where it is still based. Much of the later history is about bringing production in-house. In 1976 the company began growing its own medicinal plants on land near Stutensee-Staffort, a short distance from Karlsruhe, with the first harvest in 1977. The farm was renamed Terra Medica in 1989 and has been certified to organic-farming criteria since 1998, which means no chemical fertilisers, insecticides or herbicides. Electronic data processing reached the production departments from 1987. A new logistics centre opened in 1990, allowing the company to ship the products of the entire Schwabe group worldwide. In 2000 DHU invested 35 million Deutschmarks in modernising its production of mother tinctures — the concentrated plant extracts from which many remedies are diluted — to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. According to the company, about 70 tonnes of plant material a year were then turned into some 900 mother tinctures. A further production building for tablet and globule forming opened in 2006 at a cost of 25 million euros. By 2007, with the plant farm integrated, every step from growing the raw material to shipping the finished medicine sat under DHU's own roof. The Terra Medica visitor centre followed in 2014. On the brand side, DHU revised its logo and added new design elements in 2017, introducing the slogan "Gesundheit erfahren", roughly "experience health". In 2023 the company marked 150 years of Schüßler-salt production under the banner "150 Jahre Original-Qualität". From mid-2023 the blue-and-white Schüßler-salt packaging was redesigned, and the largest pack of 900 tablets was moved into medicinal glass. ## Ownership DHU is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dr. Willmar Schwabe Group [11]. Within the group the roles have traditionally been divided: the parent concentrates on herbal medicines, while DHU is responsible for homeopathy and Schüßler salts. The group as a whole is led by Olaf Schwabe, who runs the family business in the fifth generation as chief executive. Who runs DHU itself depends on the source. The company's legal notice names Dietrich Bender as managing director [10], while the German Wikipedia infobox lists Frank Waimer [11]. A 2015 report in the German pharmacy trade press named Patrick Krauth as managing director at that time [12]. The legal notice is the more recent of the three. ## Philosophy & positioning DHU presents its medicines as support for each person's own, holistic route to health and well-being. Its mission statement puts human health at the centre, closely tied to making medicines of the highest quality. Under the slogan "Gesundheit erfahren", the company frames its products as natural from seed to use, and says its remedies stimulate the body's own powers of regeneration. On its product pages it goes further, saying the remedies activate the body's self-healing powers rather than merely suppressing symptoms, with practically no side effects. These are the company's own statements. For the Schüßler salts, DHU adds a qualification of its own: the products are classed as homeopathic medicines, and their use is based solely on long-standing use within that therapy. The company also stresses that Schüßler salts are specially prepared, potentised mineral salts — not high-dose minerals meant to correct a deficiency, and not comparable to ordinary dietary supplements. Manufacturing is a large part of how the company presents itself. Production in Karlsruhe follows the official German Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia and international GMP rules, and is inspected regularly by the regional authority. In line with the principles of Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, and with Schwabe's tradition, DHU says every liquid remedy is shaken by hand and every solid one ground, with a fresh glass used for each dilution step. DHU belongs to several industry bodies, including the German pharmaceutical industry association BPI, Pharma Deutschland and the European Coalition on Homeopathic and Anthroposophic Medicinal Products (ECHAMP). ## Products & innovation The range falls into two main areas: homeopathy and Schüßler salts. Homeopathic single remedies — known colloquially in German as "Globuli" — include Arnica D6 as globules and Hekla lava D6 as tablets. Combination remedies, which according to German Wikipedia contain up to four active substances, include Klimaktoplant N and Heuschnupfenmittel DHU, a hay-fever remedy. The Schüßler-salt line includes both the individual salts and combination products such as DHU Silicea Pentarkan. The product with the clearest beauty angle is DHU Schüßler-Salz Nr. 11 Silicea, an oral tablet the company markets as "the mineral salt of the hair, the skin and the connective tissue". DHU groups it under a dedicated skin-and-hair area of its range. The company says it processes many hundreds of starting materials, mostly plants but also minerals and animal substances; German Wikipedia puts the figure at around 1,200. Combined with different potencies, dosage forms and pack sizes, this adds up to several thousand articles, almost all of them available from stock. Globules are made in D, C and LM potencies, and rarely requested potencies are produced individually within a day. Globules are the most common form: German Wikipedia states that about 12.5 billion are made each year. The figures for Terra Medica vary between the company's own pages. Its manufacturing page describes about 200 medicinal plant species on more than 13 hectares, supplying around two thirds of the plants DHU needs [4]. Its company-history page instead speaks of 600 species and 70 percent of the required plants, and calls Terra Medica Europe's most species-rich medicinal-plant cultivation [2]. German Wikipedia gives 15.5 hectares and about 70 percent. The company says the farm generates its own electricity with a solar installation, and that remaining raw materials come from certified suppliers. On packaging, DHU says it uses odour-neutral medicinal glass for its Schüßler salts rather than plastic, to protect the tablets from fumes and plasticisers. The bottles can be recycled through ordinary glass collection. ## Controversies Homeopathy as a whole faces broad criticism over its effectiveness, and DHU has taken action against such criticism of its own products. In 2005, according to German Wikipedia, the company obtained a preliminary injunction that took a book by the German consumer-testing foundation Stiftung Warentest off the market; the book had described its product Heuschnupfenmittel DHU as ineffective [11]. The German Central Association of Homeopathic Physicians had also spoken out against the book. In 2012 it became known, again per German Wikipedia citing the Süddeutsche Zeitung, that DHU was among the funders of Claus Fritzsche, who ran several websites attacking critics of pseudo-medical practices [11]. According to the same account, Fritzsche used a network of cross-linking sites to push those attacks up in search results; one of the people targeted was the British researcher Edzard Ernst. ## Current status DHU is an active company. It continues to operate from Karlsruhe-Durlach, with its own plant farm nearby, and its legal notice is current. According to the company, its medicines are available in about 40 countries through affiliated companies, distribution partners and further cooperations, and international business accounts for 30 percent of its revenue. German Wikipedia reports around 500 employees and revenue of 100 million euros for 2019. The most recent dated press release on the company's website is from November 2023 [5]. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 1866 | Dr. Willmar Schwabe opens the 'Homöopathische Centralofficin Dr. Willmar Schwabe' in Leipzig (precursor of DHU) | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | | 1872 | Schwabe writes the 'Pharmacopoea Homoeopathica Polyglottica', later the basis of the German Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia (HAB) | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | | 1873 | Schwabe offers an 'Apotheke nach Schüßler', the origin of DHU Schüßler salts | https://www.dhu.de/schuessler-salze/geschichte-tradition | | 1946 | Schüßler salts produced in Karlsruhe after Schwabe moves its seat there | https://www.dhu.de/schuessler-salze/geschichte-tradition | | 1947 | 'Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH' founded in Karlsruhe | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | | 1961 | DHU founded as a separate company for homeopathy and Schüßler salts within the Schwabe group | https://www.dhu.de/dhu | | 1961 | Per German Wikipedia: DHU arose from a merger of former competitors Dr. Madaus & Co. and Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH; the merger was dissolved in 1969 but the name kept. Today a 100% subsidiary of Dr. Willmar Schwabe. | https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Hom%C3%B6opathie-Union_DHU_Arzneimittel | | 1976 | Start of own medicinal-plant cultivation near Stutensee-Staffort (first harvest 1977) | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | | 1983 | DHU moves to the former Grundig production site on Ottostraße, Karlsruhe-Durlach | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | | 1989 | Plant cultivation renamed Terra Medica® | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | | 1990 | New logistics centre enables worldwide shipping for the whole Schwabe group | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | | 1998 | Medicinal-plant cultivation certified to organic-farming criteria | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | | 2000 | 35 million DM invested in modernising mother-tincture production to GMP standards | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | | 2006 | 25 million euro production building for 'Formgebung' opened | https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **DHU Schüßler-Salz Nr. 11 Silicea** — DHU Schüßler-Salz Nr. 11 Silicea - Das Mineralsalz der Haare, der Haut und des Bindegewebes — https://www.dhu.de/ - **Arnica D6 (Globuli)** — Es umfasst die homöopathischen Einzelmittel wie Arnica D6 als Globuli oder Hekla lava e lava D6 als Tabletten — https://www.dhu.de/dhu - **Klimaktoplant® N** — Kombinationsmittel wie Klimaktoplant® N und Heuschnupfenmittel DHU — https://www.dhu.de/dhu - **Heuschnupfenmittel DHU** — Kombinationsmittel wie Klimaktoplant® N und Heuschnupfenmittel DHU — https://www.dhu.de/dhu - **DHU Silicea Pentarkan®** — sowie Schüßler-Salze inklusive Kombinationspräparate wie DHU Silicea Pentarkan®. — https://www.dhu.de/dhu ## Proprietary technologies & patents {#belagg-tech} - Terra Medica® (own organic medicinal-plant cultivation, named 1989) — https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **APOTHEKE ADHOC** (2015) — Trade-press report on DHU launching its 'Mama Natura' line for parents; describes DHU as Germany's leading homeopathy manufacturer by pharmacy-retail-price revenue (~150 million euro). — https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/nachrichten/detail/markt/dhu-ein-bisschen-willmar-schwabe-apotheke-otc-homoeopathie-pflanzlich-phyto/ ## Sources 2. (T1) https://www.dhu.de/dhu/firmengeschichte 3. (T2) https://www.dhu.de/dhu 4. (T2) https://www.dhu.de/dhu/herstellung-und-qualitaet 5. (T2) https://www.dhu.de/presse 6. (T2) https://www.dhu.de/schuessler-salze/geschichte-tradition 10. (T2) https://www.dhu.de/impressum 11. (T3) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Hom%C3%B6opathie-Union_DHU_Arzneimittel 12. (T4) https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/nachrichten/detail/markt/dhu-ein-bisschen-willmar-schwabe-apotheke-otc-homoeopathie-pflanzlich-phyto/ --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-05 Please cite with a link to the article URL.