Panaceo

Panaceo is an Austrian health and natural-cosmetics company based in Gödersdorf, near Villach in the state of Carinthia. Its business is built around a single raw material: clinoptilolite, a naturally occurring zeolite mineral of volcanic origin, which the company processes with a patented method it calls PMA (from the German Patentierte Mikro Aktivierung, "patented micro-activation"). Most of its range consists of zeolite medical devices taken by mouth for gut health, alongside food supplements, sports nutrition, an animal-feed supplement and a small natural-cosmetics line called CARE, which applies the same mineral to skin and teeth.

The company was founded by Jakob Hraschan, a Villach industrialist who had earlier built the insulation manufacturer Austroflex. The operating company, Panaceo International GmbH, dates from 2004 according to the brand's own timeline, while products have been sold under the Panaceo name since 2006. The brand is active, family-run and privately owned by its founder.

Hraschan came to zeolite as an outsider to medicine. Before Panaceo, he had developed Austroflex from Gödersdorf beginning in 1985, growing it into an insulation business active in 30 countries on a site of around 25,000 square metres. In the company's account, his interest in the mineral grew out of his own health-consciousness: he writes that a fascination with clinoptilolite, and with the handed-down ideas about its possible uses, led him to study it more closely. Encouraging experiences among people close to him and feedback from doctors he knew, he says, persuaded him to fund research.

The brand timeline dates his first encounter with the mineral to 1997. A year later he commissioned and paid for the first studies, including a toxicity test carried out according to OECD guidelines. From 2000 the company worked on what it calls PMA activators, equipment designed to refine and optimise the raw rock, and between 2000 and 2005 it ran what it describes as broad application observations on hundreds of patients, in cooperation with practitioners of complementary medicine.

Panaceo International GmbH was then founded at Gödersdorf in 2004 [2]. The start of the business appears in two forms. The company timeline gives 2004 for the founding of the limited company, while the same page carries the heading "on the market since 2006" and states that the family business has marketed its medical devices under the PANACEO name since that year. A 2023 profile of Hraschan on the Carinthian regional news site 5 Minuten likewise dates his specialisation in zeolite with Panaceo to 2006 [11]. The two dates describe different events, the incorporation of the company and the start of sales after medical-device approval, rather than two versions of the same one. The company's press area offers a "20 years" anniversary logo, which fits the 2004 date [9].

The 2006 approval as a medical device marked the point where the research phase became a commercial business. The company presents the approval as its guarantee of the described effectiveness and safety for the user.

In 2013 and 2014 Panaceo ran information campaigns across Austria and began research into liver health. Its timeline then lists a series of study publications: a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial on the intestinal barrier in 2015, a study on relieving intestinal inflammation in 2021, and in 2022 a long-term publication on bone metabolism in osteoporosis, together with a follow-up on how well drug therapies were tolerated, with a focus on oncological parameters. On its homepage the company refers to more than 50 clinical studies on PMA-zeolite.

Outside research, the company launched Stars4Future in 2022, a youth-sport initiative in Carinthia run together with MJK-Sportmarketing.

Hraschan's other businesses share the Gödersdorf site. Austroflex was sold to an American group in 2010; he bought it back three years later to keep the jobs at the site, and since October 2022 it has belonged to the Luxembourg-based insulation group Armacell, operating as Armacell / Austroflex. In 2019 he and business partner Manfred Pesek founded Panacool International, which builds whole-body cold-therapy cabins that run at minus 110 degrees Celsius. According to the 5 Minuten profile, Austroflex/Armacell, Panaceo and Panacool are grouped together on the same company grounds in Gödersdorf [11].

Panaceo International GmbH is the brand's operating company. Jakob Hraschan is listed on the company's team page as the owner of Panaceo International GmbH [4], and on its history page as founder and proprietor. No corporate parent group is documented. Management is shared: the team page names DI Dieter Maurer as managing director and Dr. Horst Poosch as the managing director responsible under trade law, alongside Hraschan. The company describes itself as a Carinthian family business.

According to the 2023 regional press profile, Panaceo employs around 30 people [11]. Its team page lists staff in research and development, quality management, marketing, sales, logistics and an in-house production team.

Panaceo presents itself first as a gut-health brand. Its homepage says the company has for more than 20 years supported the natural strengthening of the intestinal barrier and the build-up of a healthy gut environment with PMA-zeolite, following the principle "Erst entlasten. Dann aufbauen." ("First relieve, then build up."). The idea is that the mineral binds unwanted substances in the digestive tract first, before other steps help the body rebuild.

In its mission statement the company calls itself the world market leader in the research and development of medical devices made from PMA-zeolite [3], a description that has not been independently verified. It names four values (natural, honest, scientific and family-run) and says honesty comes first. Its history page sets its study-based approach apart from what it calls dubious zeolite suppliers.

The cosmetics are positioned as an extension of the gut-health idea rather than a separate beauty venture. The CARE line is framed around the link between gut and skin, and brings the same zeolite to external use on skin and teeth.

The core range is taken by mouth. MED DARM REPAIR, sold as powder and capsules, is the company's main product for irritable bowel and so-called leaky gut; BASIC DETOX is marketed for everyday detoxification of the gut; and MED THERAPY PRO is sold as a companion product for people undergoing chemotherapy. Panaceo says its zeolite medical devices carry CE class IIb certification, which it describes as the highest class for a medical device taken by mouth, and that more than six million of its products have been sold [1]. Further lines include PANACEO SPORT for training and competition, GREEN HEALTH food supplements and VETAMIN, a complementary feed for animals. According to the brand, its products are sold in more than 30 countries.

The CARE line consists of six products for face, body, wounds and teeth, each combining PMA-zeolite with selected plant ingredients. The Zeolith Goldcreme is an anti-ageing face cream with hyaluronic acid, organic oils and ultrafine gold. The Zeolith Hautcreme is described as a soothing cream for irritated and sensitive skin, while the newer Zeolith CBD Creme pairs 1,030 mg of CBD with the zeolite for stressed skin. The Zeolith Zahncreme is a fluoride-free toothpaste without titanium dioxide, made with organic mint oil and aloe vera. The range also includes a Zeolith Basenbad, an alkaline bath, and a Zeolith Wundpuder, a wound powder that is itself classed as a medical device.

According to Panaceo, the CARE products are vegan, not tested on animals and certified as natural cosmetics under NATRUE, a European label for natural and organic cosmetics; the company says they contain no silicones, microplastics or synthetic fragrances and dyes [5]. The products are described as tested for skin tolerance and suitable for sensitive skin, and are developed and manufactured in Austria.

The company's central technology is its PMA activation process. Panaceo says the patented micro-activation optimises the crystal structure of the clinoptilolite and multiplies the mineral's natural ability to bind pollutants [8]; the patent number is not given on its website. The company says the zeolite binds heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, chromium and nickel, as well as ammonium, in the digestive tract. On aluminium, which is part of the zeolite mineral's structure, the brand says studies confirm that none is released, even after months of use [8].

These are the company's own descriptions of its research, and the study results it cites are presented on its own website. The raw rock, according to the 5 Minuten profile, is mined in Slovakia for Panaceo, while the company says all processing, from production to final inspection, takes place in Carinthia.

Panaceo says it ships its products carbon-neutrally and packages them in high-purity plastics that are 100 percent recyclable, which it continues to develop to reduce its carbon footprint [7]. It also points to a photovoltaic installation on the owner's buildings and a preference for local partners with short transport routes. The 5 Minuten profile describes the installation as a solar array of about 9,000 square metres with roughly 5,000 modules on the roofs of the combined company site, intended to supply electricity for 250 households.

Panaceo is active. Its website runs an online shop in German, English and Italian, and its health blog, with posts dating back to 2019, published its most recent article in July 2026 [10]. The CBD cream is presented on the site as a new product. Beyond its own shop, the company sells through a sales force that serves pharmacies and health-food stores, with staff covering regions of Austria and Bavaria as well as international business development.