Dr. Reckeweg - Homeopathic Specialties
History / Research & Development / Manufacture and Quality / Manual Potentization

History

Our company’s history starts with Heinrich Reckeweg (1877-1944). After his education as a teacher he started teaching at an elementary school in Herford in 1903. The following years were characterized by teaching at the public school, by severe illness, the world war and by his premature pension. In 1912 he was that seriously ill, that physicians declared him suitable for “garrison-fit” only when World War I started. In 1919 he suffered from a chronic kidney inflammation, in November 1924 the consequences of tuberculosis and a disorder in his throat lead to his premature pension. So it does not really come as a surprise that Heinrich Reckeweg, suffering from such severe illness in the early Twenties and the failure of orthodox medicine becoming obvious, attended to natural medicine more and more.

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All along interested in botanical medicine and other natural healing practices and familiar with the teachings of Hahnemann and Prießnitz, Heinrich Reckeweg had become self taught alternative practitioner. During his days as a teacher he already felt committed to treat many of his pupils suffering from for example a cough or a cold. He even created a cough syrup for this purpose.He named his preparation against whooping cough “Jutussin Stickhustenhilfe” - and to this day “Jutussin R8”, distributed worldwide, enjoys highest appreciation.In addition to Hahnemann and Prießnitz he was particularly interested in Pastor Felke and his methods.

The acquaintance with Felke was the mental starting point of the Dr. Reckeweg & Co GmbH product series, the company was founded in 1947. Felke had discovered that - for diseases and medical conditions always taking the same course time and again - the choice fell on the same classical homeopathic remedies. He conducted tests to mix those remedies individually for each patient thus reaching the conclusion that for certain disease patterns again and again the same combinations of homeopathic remedies showed good effects. This was the hour of founding of the homeopathic combination drugs, back then called complexes.

 

About the indication term for homeopathic combination drugs

Indications for homeopathic combination drugs are understood as the description of the entirety of those symptoms from drug pictures of the ingredients which (in regard of a particular symptom in terms of homeopathy) might be considered for elimination of this very symptom. Ideally this symptom has a name clinically understood outside homeopathy, i. e. this indication.

 

Criteria for the accuracy of an indication are:
Each ingredient of the homeopathic combination remedy has to correspond with at least one symptom.
Each symptom has to be part of the drug picture of at least one ingredient.
The symptoms of the indications have to be completely characterized by the entirety of the symptoms of the ingredients drug pictures.
The ingredients have to be tolerated among themselves, i. e.  counteragents, antagonistic agents etc. are not allowed.

 

The EuPha Laboratory

In pursuit of his vision of natural medicine, Heinrich Reckeweg registered his doctor’s office with the public health institution and on a commercial basis in May 1926 after he had started in the early Twenties to develop, manufacture and sell homeopathic combination remedies in his EuPha Laboratory. His aspirations were to produce effective and well-tolerated remedies – a tradition Dr. Reckeweg & Co. GmbH, Bensheim still stands for today.
Heinrich Reckeweg’s remarkable curing successes brought high credit far beyond his home town. Although he never was bestowed with an official title, everybody respectfully called him “Doctor” Reckeweg. In 1944 Heinrich Reckeweg passed away which was the end of the EuPha Laboratory.

 

Re-establishing of the company after the war

But knowledge and experience were not lost: Already in May 1947 two of his sons, Klaus Günther Reckeweg and the homeopathic physician Dr. med. Alfred Reckeweg, re-founded the company Dr. A. Reckeweg & Co. GmbH in Herford. Fully in line with their father’s tradition, they developed a series of sixty homeopathic complex remedies over the first years. Experience passed from father to sons combined with the expert medical homeopathic knowledge of Dr. Alfred Reckeweg and those paired with an alert interest in procedures in natural healing of both company founders were the basis for all drug formulations. The preparations of the specialty series were designed to provide an alternative based on homeopathic therapy for treatment of as many disorders occurring in every day practice as possible. They ranged from remedies against inflammation to remedies for treatment of cardiovascular disorders, diseases of the digestive tract to treatment of rheumatic spectrum disorders – just to name a few applications. Only eight years later, the growing success of Pharmazeutische Fabrik Dr. Reckeweg & Co. GmbH brought Klaus Günther Reckeweg to start looking for new premises which he found in Bensheim. This move to today’s location initiated a new era for Pharmazeutische Fabrik Dr. Reckeweg & Co. GmbH. In addition to more space, the technical department was completely modernized.

 

 

Internationalization

The Seventies and Eighties brought a new dawn in many areas. Once Michael Reckeweg entered the company in 1976 and the company moved into the new building with more than 2,000 sqm. in 1981 and thus having to hire more personnel, the turning point for a redirection of the family business to a pharmaceutical company was completed. From that time on the main interest was to open markets abroad.
Dr. Reckeweg established business contacts to importers in European and non-European countries pushing international expansion. Today Dr. Reckeweg maintains intensive contacts to importers in over 40 countries in Europe and all over the world. The export share of more than 90% documents impressively the high acceptance and appreciation of Dr. Reckeweg’s homeopathic remedies. Along with regional and global expansion of business came an internal expansion of the portfolio. The line of specialties was expanded to 75 and later to 95 remedies, offering some of the specialties in different forms such as dilutions, injectables, globules, tablets, ointments and syrups. In addition to those specialties, the company produced and distributed mother tinctures, single remedies in high and highest potencies, salts of the biochemical healing method according to Dr. Schüßler and homeopathic preparations for veterinary medicine along with some food supplements which completed the product range in the Eighties and Nineties. In addition the company started working on development and distribution of an electro acupuncture device. 

 

All this took place during the change of generations from the company’s founders to the current  Managing Director Michael Reckeweg. At the same time the reorganization of responsibilities in accordance with legal requirements for a pharmaceutical company was established, one of them being the requirement to manufacture according to the international guidelines GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice). Since 1999 the company is – as one of the co-founders - an active member of ECHAMP (abbrev. European Coalition on Homeopathic and Anthroposophic Medicinal Products).
Remarkable as well is the membership in the ’Bundesverband der Pharmazeutischen Industrie (BPI, federal association of the pharmaceutical industry)’ as well as in the ’Bundesverband der Arzneimittelhersteller (BAH, federal association of drug manufacturers)’. In both, the company is engaged in active cooperation in various committees and panels representing the interests of homeopathy.  

 

Research & Development
At Dr. Reckeweg, research goes beyond product improvement and new product development. For more than 25 years the company is one of the very few in the world being active in basic research in the field of homeopathy.

Since the early Eighties, in Dr. Reckeweg’ own department for basic research, scientists pursue the general principles of homeopathy as a therapy procedure as well as evidences regarding the effectiveness of specific Dr. Reckeweg remedies.
In cooperation with the Carl und Veronica Carstens Foundation, Pharmazeutische Fabrik Dr. Reckeweg & Co. GmbH was able to perform nearly a dozen projects over the past 20 years. The work of this department is documented impressively in several books and dozens of publications. Priority objective of this research work is to answer this question unresolved for more than two centuries: How do substances develop their effectiveness and efficacy after being diluted to an extreme degree by means of potentization.

 

Here we are challenged to develop new models of thinking, a new understanding of cause and effect, mainly by investigating into physical systems capable of accumulating specific structural information without demanding existence of specific matter. This means remedies with an effectiveness that does not decrease with a growing dilution of the basic substances but with an actual development of effect in due course of potentization, complemented by publications informing on product-related basic research and dealing with methodical questions of a statistic handling of data collected in homeopathy.
As a final note it remains remarkable that research in the field of homeopathy does not and never had any self-evident university support thus being financially as well as in regard to content completely on its own.

 

Manufacture and Quality

Although all substances are certified and originate from selected suppliers, further analytical testing during each manufacturing stage – from raw material to finished remedy – is conducted by the control laboratory. Chemical, physico-chemical, microbiological and pharmacognostic analyses are part of routine quality control of the starting materials. It includes testing of purity, identity and content as well as the determination of physical parameters.

The high quality standard of products manufactured by Dr. Reckeweg is due to a manufacturing process based on the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia (HAB), the Deutsche Arzneibuch (German Pharmacopeia) and the Europäische Arzneibuch (European Pharmacopeia) and following all national and international production guidelines. High-quality products, especially if they are manufactured according to traditional methods, require the most advanced filling and packing technologies. Fully automated filling and packing lines prevent any physical contact between staff and product, thus guaranteeing absolutely hygienic drugs. Combined, all these measures in manufacturing and quality control provide medical practitioners and patients with preparations of reproducible high quality.

 

Tradition and modern technologies in line

High-class quality products, in particular if they are produced according to traditional procedures, require most modern filling and packaging technologies. Fully automated filling- and packaging lines avoid any physical contact between staff and product thus guaranteeing absolutely hygienic production of the remedy.

 

Quality assurance

The system of quality control at Pharmazeutische Fabrik Dr. Reckeweg & Co. GmbH is based on strict raw material inspection, extensive in-process verifications and final inspections.

These controls consist of inspection of manufacturing protocols, regulating all intermediate stages including raw materials and the monitoring of filling and packaging. Emphasis during those controls is put on the systematic in-process analysis of the raw materials (e. g. measuring of temperature, time of mixing, trituration duration and alcohol contents during bulk goods manufacture, documentation of the production process) since the detection of active ingredients in finished products of homeopathic remedies is impossible after a certain stage of dilution.

Part of the quality assurance system is also the documentation of all production- and testing protocols which are stored as batch-related reports for a period of more than five years. In addition, Dr. Reckeweg conducts stability studies on a regular basis in order to guarantee a consistent quality of the preparations. This interaction of manufacturing process and quality control provides practitioners and patients with products of a reproducible high quality standard.

 

Manual Potentization

The manufacture of homeopathic remedies

Mother tinctures, D- and C-Potencies:

Potentization always is dilution followed by addition of mechanical energy. Dilution is made at ratios 1:10 (decimal potencies) or 1:100 (centesimal potencies). So during the trituration process with non-soluble starting substances 1 share substance is processed with 9 respectively 99 shares lactose by hand or aid of a trituration device in a timed dispersion- and mixing procedure. If the starting substances are soluble, they are diluted with a defined alcohol-water concentration followed by succession (potentization).

What do those characters and figures after the name of the remedy mean (for example Arnica D6)?

 

• Arnica: Name of the starting substance
• D6 (dilution ratio): To produce this level of potency to one share of Arnica D5 nine shares of a alcohol-water mixture are added, followed by succession (potentization) of the liquid mixture which results in the remedy Arnica D6. This potency again is the starting basis for the D7 etc.

 

At Dr. Reckeweg, potentization – the decisive production step solely applied in homeopathy – is deliberately performed manually, i. e. without using any mechanical aids. Manual succession in accordance with Hahnemann’s multi vessel system has a long tradition, a tradition that has been tried and trusted and thus will be preserved.

 

Manufacture and quality

 

Although all substances are certified and originate from selected suppliers, further analytical testing during each manufacturing stage – from raw material to finished remedy – is conducted by the control laboratory. Chemical, physico-chemical, microbiological and pharmacognostic analyses are part of routine quality control of the starting materials. It includes testing of purity, identity and content as well as the determination of physical parameters. The high quality standard of products manufactured by Dr. Reckeweg is due to a manufacturing process based on the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia (HAB), the Deutsche Arzneibuch (German Pharmacopeia) and the Europäische Arzneibuch (European Pharmacopeia) and following all national and international production guidelines.

 

 

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