Laves

Laves is a German maker of naturopathic medicines and food supplements, run by Laves-Arzneimittel GmbH from Ronnenberg near Hannover. The company dates its founding to 1908, when the pharmacist and later professor Ernst Laves began factory production of a preparation called Lecin [10]. More than a century on, it is still independent and owned by the founding family, now in its fourth generation, a point also noted in an industry company directory [13].

Most of the Laves range concerns the gut, the immune system and digestion: bacterial preparations, digestive enzymes and supplements. Its connection to skin care is a smaller line called Dermabiogen®, which applies the company's long-standing interest in bacteria to the skin's own microbial population. Laves products are sold mainly through pharmacies and are also addressed to therapists.

Ernst Laves was head of the pharmacy at Hannover's Nordstadt Hospital and later became a professor at the Technical University of Hanover. In 1908 he set up a company to produce Lecin on an industrial scale, moving a preparation from the hospital pharmacy into a factory. By 1914 the firm employed 20 people. Its mineral and milk-protein preparations were in strong demand during the First World War, when deficiency symptoms were widespread.

The direction that defines the company today came with the second generation. Ernst Laves died in a traffic accident on 1 October 1927, and his son, Dr Wolfgang Laves, took over at the age of 26 [10]. According to the company's German-language history, Wolfgang Laves introduced bacterial preparations, among them Colibiogen® [2]. Laves says its research and development came to centre on preparations based on a strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli that Wolfgang Laves had found. That focus on bacteria and the gut still runs through the product range.

The company's chronology is closely tied to the history of Hannover and of Germany. In 1918 production moved to Hildesheimer Strasse in Hannover. During the Second World War, in 1943, bombing and fire destroyed the factories on Hildesheimer Strasse and Köblinger Strasse, and the company built a replacement plant in Neustadt am Rübenberge. The setback did not stop its growth: by 1947 the workforce had reached 250 people, and the Neustadt factory was completed in 1948.

The division of Germany cost the company a subsidiary. In 1954, Laves says, the political division of the country forced it to give up its subsidiary in Dresden. In 1960 the Lecin factory returned to Hannover.

A new chapter began in 1969, when the pharmacist Hans-Georg Laves acquired the company [10]. The company reports that turnover rose from DM 535,000 to DM 1,250,000 in the four years that followed. In 1979 the headquarters moved to Empelde, part of the town of Ronnenberg on the edge of Hannover, where it remains.

Later decades brought expansion beyond Germany and a reshaping of the group:

- 1994: a property-management company, Immobilienverwaltung Laves GbR, was founded. - 1998: a production site opened in the Swiss canton of Lucerne. - 2000: the former factory site on Hildesheimer Strasse was turned into student and rental housing. - 2016: the Empelde site gained a new high-bay warehouse. - 2017: a project called XJ15 was completed, upgrading the production plant in Schötz, Switzerland, to current pharmaceutical technology; the German history page adds that this included 2,000-litre fermentation tanks. - 2019: photovoltaic systems were installed at both Ronnenberg and Schötz.

Laves has always been a family business, and it has no parent company. Hans-Georg Laves, who bought the company in 1969, died in 2002. His three sons then took over management as the fourth family generation [2].

The leadership has narrowed since. Ralph Laves left in 2008; the German history page says he went on to open his own pharmacy in Munich. Frank Laves left in 2016, according to the same page to work in hospitality in Switzerland. On its family-business page the company quotes Jens-Christian Laves, speaking for the management.

The family firm has also bought other businesses. In 2004 the Laves group acquired SL Akupunktur GmbH [10]. In 2014 it took over Dürasol, a company from Karlsruhe that, according to the German history page, made medical bags [2]. Bionity, a company directory for the life-sciences industry, describes Laves as a traditional, medium-sized pharmaceutical manufacturer that is run independently by its owner family [13].

Laves presents itself under the line "Naturheilkunde seit 1908", meaning naturopathy since 1908, and describes itself as specialised in the gut and the immune system. The company says it is devoted to holistic therapy options for a wide range of intestinal diseases. It names three values: lasting results from therapy, natural and well-tolerated active ingredients, and offering what it calls an effective alternative to conventional medicine. The management quote on its website reads, in translation: "Together we help people overcome their gut and immune problems."

On its homepage the company says one of its main tasks is to explain the basic importance of the gut immune system across many illnesses. It also states an aim of providing modern medicines and supplements from the field of naturopathy to support the body's own immune defences.

That positioning is reinforced by an affiliation. Laves is a supporting member of the Hufelandgesellschaft, a German umbrella organisation for medical societies working in natural healing, anthroposophic medicine, homeopathy, Ayurveda and other complementary approaches [1].

The company addresses two professional audiences directly, with separate sections of its website for pharmacies and for therapists. It also runs a media library of recorded webinars. Most cover gut health, digestive enzymes, allergies and the female immune system, and one deals with skin conditions and the role of the microbiome. The website describes its products as certified quality products but names no certifying body.

### Gut, enzyme and supplement range

The bulk of the catalogue is built around digestion and immunity. It includes food supplements such as Colibiogen® oral (with biotin), Colibiogen® Kinder for children and Synerga® (with zinc). Bacterial preparations include Lactobiogen® in several versions, Sibosan® and Pylosan®. Enzyme preparations include Pankreatin Laves® in two strengths, alongside Sanagast® Laves, Sanalact® Pro Laves and Sanaglu® Laves. Colibiogen® links the current range most directly to the company's history, since the name goes back to the bacterial preparations of the Wolfgang Laves era.

### Dermabiogen® and skin products

The company's only cosmetic-type line is Dermabiogen®, which it calls microbiotic skin care. The idea is that the skin carries its own community of microorganisms, the skin microbiome, which helps form its protective barrier. Laves argues on its skin pages that a weakened microbiome is linked to conditions such as atopic eczema and rosacea.

The line has two products:

- Dermabiogen® Mikrobiotische Intensivcreme, a cream containing a cell-free extract of the lactic-acid bacterium Lactobacillus brevis DSM17250, together with shea butter, vitamin E and almond, jojoba and borage oils. The company lists atopic eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, eczema and acne as areas of use. - Dermabiogen® Mikrobiotische Hauttinktur, an oil-free formulation intended mainly for the scalp, hairy areas of the body and oily skin. Its listed active ingredients are the lactic-acid bacteria extract and allantoin.

"Cell-free" means the extract contains no living bacteria. Laves describes the active ingredient as patented, without giving a patent number or holder [9]. According to the company, it encourages the growth of protective bacteria such as Staphylococcus epidermidis on the skin and helps build a healthy microbiome and a strong skin barrier. Laves also states that the efficacy and very good tolerability of the Dermabiogen® products have been dermatologically demonstrated [9]; it does not cite a specific study on the product page.

Microbiotic skin care is a broader category than this one brand. The German pharmacy-trade magazine PTA heute explained the concept for pharmacy staff in a 2023 article [11].

Two further skin products sit next to Dermabiogen® in the range: ScarSoft®, a scar cream, and Gilt® Lösung, a treatment for fungal skin infections.

### Manufacturing

The company's production plant is in Schötz, in the Swiss canton of Lucerne; the site opened in 1998 and was upgraded in 2017. The Ronnenberg site serves as headquarters and houses the high-bay warehouse added in 2016.

Laves is active. Its website carries a current catalogue of 16 products, including the Dermabiogen® line, along with the webinar library and an export contact [4]. The most recent entry in its published company chronology dates from 2019.

The company describes itself mainly in the context of the German market, addressing German pharmacies and therapists. It also has an export department that invites distribution partners to get in touch, though it does not publicly name its export markets.