HAMASANA

HAMASANA is a German skincare line made by Robugen GmbH Pharmazeutische Fabrik, a family-owned pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Esslingen am Neckar. The line consists of a single product, HAMASANA Hamamelis Salbe, an ointment built around an extract of witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). Robugen presents it under the tagline "skin care with natural witch hazel extract" and describes it as a nourishing ointment for dry, cracked and brittle skin [3].

Rather than a standalone brand with its own identity, HAMASANA is one of several small product names in Robugen's portfolio, which also covers heart and circulation remedies, cold and cough products, digestive aids and other skin preparations. The line is sold through pharmacies and remains on sale as of October 2026.

Robugen has not published when HAMASANA was introduced or who developed it, and no launch year for the ointment appears in the company's history. What is documented is the story of the company that makes it.

Robugen was founded in 1927 by the pharmacist Dr. Theodor Mauz, together with his son Ernst and, later, his son Jörg [4]. The business grew out of the Rats-Apotheke, the town pharmacy on Esslingen's Rathausplatz. Accounts of that pharmacy's age differ. Robugen's own history page describes it as more than 500 years old [4], while a 2014 trade-press profile, citing the company, gave the pharmacy's opening year as 1535 and called it Germany's second-oldest pharmacy by the company's own account [9]. Counted from 1535, the pharmacy would be just under 500 years old in 2026.

The company name comes from Greek. Robugen explains it as a shortening of "robustos genaios", which it translates as "of strong stock", and says the name reflects the founders' aim of making effective, well-tolerated and high-quality preparations.

Robugen's early history is closely tied to the pharmacy trade in the Württemberg region. In 1928, a year after Robugen was founded, Theodor Mauz was one of six Esslingen pharmacists who formed a purchasing cooperative, the Einkaufs-Gemeinschaft Württembergischer Apotheker (EGWA), and he became its chairman. His son Ernst Mauz held the same post from 1947 to 1971. Through a series of mergers, the cooperative later became Sanacorp, which Robugen describes as one of Germany's largest pharmaceutical wholesalers.

In 1950, the Mauz family built the company's first dedicated building on Alleenstraße in Esslingen. The company still operates from Alleenstraße 22–24, and it says the original building can still be recognised today.

From the 1960s, Robugen built up the products that made its name among pharmacists and doctors. The company singles out KORODIN heart and circulation drops and the chamomile preparation KAMILLIN EXTERN ROBUGEN as the products that shaped trust in the Robugen name during this period.

A generational change followed from 1992, when the pharmacist Jörg Mauz (junior) and the biochemist Dr. Matthias Mauz took over the management. According to the company, they widened the product range and pushed research into new treatment areas. In 1999, Robugen developed the antiviral substance ethyldeoxyuridine for herpes simplex infections of the eye; it was sold internationally as Edurid eye gel. The company reports that in 2012 its clinical trials were reviewed by the German federal drug authority BfArM and extended to further areas of use.

HAMASANA does not appear as a separate milestone in this history. It sits among the company's skin products rather than among the preparations Robugen highlights as defining moments.

HAMASANA belongs to Robugen GmbH Pharmazeutische Fabrik, which the manufacturer names on the product page as the maker of the ointment [3]. Its legal form is reported in two ways. Robugen's own website gives the company as Robugen GmbH Pharmazeutische Fabrik, while the online pharmacy medpex lists the manufacturer of HAMASANA as ROBUGEN GmbH & Co. KG [10]. Both names refer to the same Esslingen company.

Robugen describes itself as an owner-managed family business now led by the third generation [2]. Dr. Matthias Mauz runs the company as managing partner. The company notes that he holds a doctorate in biochemistry and has worked as a visiting scientist at Harvard Medical School and the University of California. Stefan Eberspächer, a long-serving employee with power of attorney, is also named in the management. No acquisitions or changes of ownership involving HAMASANA are documented.

Within Robugen, HAMASANA shares the skin category with other company brands, among them ANTIHYDRAL, KAMILLIN, JOD WUNDSALBE, PHYSIOLAN and VIRUDERMIN. The wider portfolio also includes KORODIN, LARYLIN cough pastilles, ILIO-FUNKTON and TUMAROL-N balsam.

A 2014 profile in the pharmacy trade press reported total company revenue of around 10 million euros, of which the KORODIN products contributed about 7.5 million and the chamomile preparations around 15 percent [9]. The same profile reported that the chamomile used in those products was grown by a farmers' cooperative in Thuringia, near the city of Gera.

HAMASANA has no published philosophy of its own beyond its product description. Its positioning is simple: a plant-based care ointment for dry and damaged skin, made by a pharmaceutical company and sold where medicines are sold.

The values Robugen states for the company as a whole frame the line. The company lists four: active ingredients chosen around the patient's needs, quality without compromise, family and independence, and responsibility for the future. On the first point, Robugen says it chooses between plant-based and chemical ingredients according to what works best and is best tolerated by the patient. On independence, it says that being family-run lets it "think in generations, not in quarters" and decide with the long term in mind.

Robugen also stresses that its plant ingredients come largely from its own cultivation and that each extract is tested against pharmacopoeia standards before it goes into a product [1]. The pharmacopoeia is the official reference book that sets quality standards for medicinal substances.

The company describes its range as a mix of medicines and cosmetics. HAMASANA falls on the care side of that line: Robugen calls it a nourishing ointment rather than a medicine, although the product page also lists a number of skin complaints for which it may be used.

The single product, HAMASANA Hamamelis Salbe, is an ointment based on Virginian witch hazel. According to Robugen, every 100 grams of ointment contains 20 grams of a distilled alcohol-based extract made from witch hazel leaves and bark, prepared at a ratio of four parts plant to one part extract [3].

The manufacturer says the ointment protects the skin from drying out, cares for cracked and brittle skin and helps with painful skin fissures. Beyond everyday dryness, the product page also mentions uses for haemorrhoids, boils and minor injuries.

Robugen states that the ointment is free of preservatives [3]. The rest of the formula is a conventional ointment base: the published ingredient list includes petrolatum, lanolin (wool wax), paraffin and the antioxidant BHT. No vegan or mineral-oil-free claims are made for it.

HAMASANA is offered in four pack sizes: 5 ml, 20 ml, 50 ml and a 30 ml version with an applicator. Each size carries its own PZN, the product code used in the German pharmacy system.

No third-party certifications, patents or proprietary technologies are documented for the line.

Robugen's environmental commitments are made at company level rather than for HAMASANA specifically. The company says it has relied for decades on its own raw-material base, its own energy generation and long-term partnerships with suppliers [5]. Its energy measures include solar panels and district heating supplied by the combined heat and power plant at Neckarzell. Robugen also describes its production as resource-conscious and says its responsibility "does not end at the factory gate".

Manufacturing is concentrated in Esslingen. Robugen says that around 24 medicines and cosmetics are developed, produced and tested at the site to international GMP standards, the good manufacturing practice rules that govern pharmaceutical production [4]. The company does not name a separate production site for HAMASANA.

HAMASANA is an active product line. As of October 2026, the ointment is listed on Robugen's website in all four pack sizes, and it is shown as available from the online pharmacy medpex [10]. Its documented distribution runs through the German pharmacy channel. No discontinuation, reformulation or change of ownership has been announced.