# PSORELIA ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Founded | 2007 | | Origin | Germany | | Headquarters | Bisingen | | Owner | AureliaSan GmbH | | Status | Active | | Distribution | Pharmacy | | Website | https://aureliasan.de/ | PSORELIA is a German skin cream built around a frankincense extract and sold through pharmacies. Marketed as Psorelia® Weihrauch-Creme ("frankincense cream"), it is made by AureliaSan GmbH, a small family company founded by pharmacists and based in Bisingen, at the foot of the Swabian Jura below Hohenzollern Castle. The maker presents it as daily care for itchy, dry or scaly skin, and also as a companion to psoriasis treatment. It went on sale in October 2007 as one of three frankincense products in AureliaSan's first pharmacy line [11], and it remains on sale today. PSORELIA is a single product rather than a stand-alone company. Its story is therefore largely that of its maker, a business that grew out of a village pharmacy and one pharmacist's long interest in the medicinal use of frankincense. ## Origin & founders The roots of the cream lie with Winfried Ertelt, who ran the Hohenzollern-Apotheke in Bisingen from 1976 to 2013. In the early 1990s he began to explore applying frankincense externally, to the skin. The company says he was inspired by the work of Professor H.P.T. Ammon of the University of Tübingen, whom it calls the founder of European frankincense research. In his pharmacy laboratory, Ertelt produced his own frankincense extracts and worked them into various cream and gel bases. According to the company, these preparations proved themselves with customers over the years, and their positive response led to a collaboration with Ammon to study the active ingredients scientifically. In 2005 Winfried Ertelt and his son Johannes Ertelt founded AureliaSan GmbH to turn that work into products [3]. Johannes Ertelt has also run his grandmother's Heidelberg-Apotheke since 2005 and has owned both family pharmacies since 2014. The dates attached to PSORELIA depend on which entity is meant. The company dates its own founding to 2005, while the cream itself reached the market in 2007: a trade-press notice from October that year reported it available through pharmaceutical wholesalers from 1 October 2007 [11]. This article follows 2007 as the launch year of the product. ## History & milestones The cream was first shown to the trade at the Expopharm trade fair in Düsseldorf in 2007. AureliaSan presented a pharmacy-only line of three frankincense-based preparations: Neurelia cream for the care of skin affected by atopic dermatitis, Psorelia cream aimed at people with psoriasis, and Arelia gel for rubbing into hips, knees, feet and hands. The launch notice said the extract behind the range had been developed with scientists at the universities of Tübingen and Saarbrücken. At the time of the launch, the trade notice described AureliaSan as a Tübingen company and gave a Tübingen address. The company's own history explains the difference: it says it moved its seat back to Bisingen in 2011 [3], where it remains. In 2008 AureliaSan received federal funding for a research cooperation on frankincense. The grant came from the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology under ProINNO II, a programme supporting innovation in small and medium-sized firms [6]. The partners were Professor Oliver Werz, then at the University of Tübingen and later at the University of Jena, and Professor Johann Jauch of Saarland University. According to the company, the project worked on extraction methods and test models, and led to new products as well as refinements of existing gels, lotions and capsules. The company also built a public presence around frankincense itself. In 2009 it launched www.weihrauch.org, which it described as the first scientific information platform on the subject, and in 2010 it introduced the Weihrauch-Akademie, an accredited online training course for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. ## Ownership PSORELIA is owned by AureliaSan GmbH, which is registered at the Stuttgart district court and represented by Johannes Ertelt [8]. No acquisitions or changes of ownership are documented. The company describes itself as a research-led family business that grew out of a pharmacy. The cream sits within a small range of frankincense products from the same maker. Besides Psorelia, these include Neurelia cream for dry, cracked or reddened skin, Arelia gel for stressed joints and skin, AureliaSan lotion for larger areas of very dry skin, and BOSWELLIASAN frankincense capsules. AureliaSan also offers product development to other companies, from formulation through to full-service packages covering production, packaging and marketing. ## Philosophy & positioning AureliaSan describes its frankincense cosmetics as natural, well-tolerated and effective options for intensive care alongside medical treatment of skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. Its stated mission is to research new ingredients, gentle extraction methods and new ways in which the old medicinal plant works, and to bring those findings to a wider public through products. The tagline used for PSORELIA, "Cremen für ein entspanntes Hautgefühl", roughly translates as "cream for a relaxed feeling on the skin". Distribution follows the company's pharmacy background. AureliaSan says all of its products are sold in pharmacies, and that a pharmacy without them in stock can order them from its wholesaler within a few hours [9]. The company also runs an online shop through weihrauch-apotheke.de. Its products have been available in pharmacies across Germany since 2007. ## Products & innovation PSORELIA is a single cream, sold in 50 ml and 100 ml sizes. Its central ingredient is AureliaSan's own frankincense extract from *Boswellia carterii*, which the company says helps stressed skin regenerate. The formula pairs it with three plant oils: evening primrose seed oil, a source of omega-6 fatty acids; avocado oil; and canola oil, which is high in vitamin E. Urea and ceramides complete the main actives. The maker says urea helps hold moisture in the upper layers of the skin and softens thickened skin, while ceramides support the skin's natural barrier. The full ingredient list, as published by the German online pharmacy aponeo, also includes shea butter, glycerin, squalane and sodium hyaluronate, a form of hyaluronic acid [12]. AureliaSan states that the cream absorbs quickly, eases itching, calms dry and reddened skin and smooths cracked skin. The science behind the extract is overseen by a scientific advisory board [10]. It includes Professor Ammon, known for early work on boswellic acids, the active compounds in frankincense; Professor Werz, who has studied the molecular pharmacology of frankincense; and Professor Jauch, an organic chemist who investigates the chemistry of frankincense and myrrh. Two pharmacists with experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing, Petra Elten and Dr Carsten Döhling, complete the board. ## Recognition In 2012 AureliaSan received the e-learning Award for its online learning platform, the Weihrauch-Akademie [3]. The prize recognised the company's training work rather than PSORELIA itself. The cream's launch was covered in 2007 by the pharmacy trade news service Apotheke Adhoc. The company's press page lists further coverage between 2007 and 2010 in titles such as Pharmazeutische Zeitung, Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung, PTA-Forum and Apotheken Umschau [4]. These articles dealt with frankincense research in general rather than with PSORELIA specifically. ## Current status PSORELIA is active. As of October 2026, the cream is listed in both sizes on the maker's website and is stocked by online pharmacies such as aponeo [12]. The company's own communications are quieter: the most recent dated item in its news section refers to a television appearance by AureliaSan as frankincense experts in the first week of January 2023 [7]. Distribution is described mainly in terms of pharmacies in Germany. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 2005 | AureliaSan GmbH, the maker of Psorelia, founded by Winfried Ertelt and his son Johannes Ertelt | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | | 2007 | PSORELIA Weihrauch-Creme presented with NEURELIA and ARELIA at Expopharm in Düsseldorf; available through pharmaceutical wholesale from 1 October 2007 | https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/markteinfuehrung-aureliasan-weihrauch-dermatika/ | | 2008 | AureliaSan receives funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology for a frankincense research cooperation with the universities of Tübingen and Saarland | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | | 2011 | AureliaSan moves its headquarters back to Bisingen (company was based in Tübingen at the 2007 launch) | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | | 2012 | AureliaSan receives the e-learning Award for its online learning platform Weihrauch-Akademie | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | | — | Early 1990s: pharmacist Winfried Ertelt begins developing frankincense extracts for external use in his pharmacy laboratory in Bisingen | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | ## Awards {#belagg-awards} | Year | Awards | Category | Source | |---|---|---|---| | 2012 | e-learning Award | Awarded to parent company AureliaSan for its online learning platform www.weihrauch-akademie.de (not a product award for Psorelia) | https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **Psorelia® Weihrauch-Creme (50 ml, 100 ml)** — Cremen für ein entspanntes Hautgefühl. Zur täglichen Intensivpflege bei juckender, trockener oder schuppender Haut; auch therapiebegleitend bei Psoriasis. — https://aureliasan.de/ ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} AureliaSan-Weihrauch-Extrakt (Boswellia carterii) · Nachtkerzensamenöl (evening primrose seed oil) · Avocadoöl (avocado oil) · Canolaöl (canola oil) · Urea · Ceramide Source: https://aureliasan.de/psorelia-weihrauch-creme ## Proprietary technologies & patents {#belagg-tech} - AureliaSan-Weihrauch-Extrakt (frankincense extract from Boswellia carterii) — https://aureliasan.de/psorelia-weihrauch-creme - Patent application for a special frankincense extract underlying the line (reported as pending in 2007; grant status not found) — https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/markteinfuehrung-aureliasan-weihrauch-dermatika/ ## Mentioned in {#belagg-press} - **Apotheke Adhoc** (2007) — Trade-news item (02.10.2007) on the market launch of AureliaSan's pharmacy-exclusive frankincense dermatics, naming PSORELIA Weihrauch-Creme 'für Psoriasis-Patienten' — https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/markteinfuehrung-aureliasan-weihrauch-dermatika/ ## Sources 3. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-weihrauch-experten 4. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/presse 6. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/bundesforschungsprojekt 7. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/news 8. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/impressum-aureliasan 9. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/weihrauchprodukte-aus-der-apotheke 10. (T2) https://aureliasan.de/aureliasan-wissenschaftliche-beirat 11. (T4) https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/branchennews/alle-branchennews/branchennews-detail/markteinfuehrung-aureliasan-weihrauch-dermatika/ 12. (T4) https://www.aponeo.de/05967913-weihrauch-creme-psorelia.html --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-10-06 Please cite with a link to the article URL.