The Schwabe Group - From Nature. For Health.
The Schwabe Group comprises several different affiliated companies in the pharmaceutical and health industry. All of the companies within the Schwabe Group focus on plants as the basis for developing pharmaceuticals and health products.
The parent company of the Schwabe Group, which is now Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co. KG, is one of the oldest pharmaceutical manufacturers in Europe with a company history dating back over 150 years.
Approximately 4,000 people work at the Schwabe Group, The largest percentage of the Schwabe Group workforce is in Germany, where some 1,600 people are employed. The Group headquarters are in Karlsruhe.
International business is a key driver
Over time, the role of global business activity has expanded, and today it has a major impact on the Group’s stability and growth. By late 2016, international business accounted for some 75% of the total sales of approx. € 950 million of the Schwabe Group.
Today, the Schwabe Group is active on all five continents. One focus is on Europe, and for quite some time South and Central America as well as southeast Asia have been important markets as well. The US and China in particular have grown to be the most important international markets in the past several years.
Family-owned business since 1866
The Schwabe Group is under the direction of Olaf Schwabe, who represents the fifth generation of the family and is the great-great grandson of Dr. Willmar Schwabe, who founded the company in 1866.
As the CEO, Olaf Schwabe leads the Group Executive Team, which is responsible for the fields of R&D, production, quality control, marketing, finance, HR and legal affairs around the world and throughout the corporate group.
The GET defines the global strategy of the group and is responsible for its operational management. Olaf Schwabe, Dr. Anke Balzer, Patrick Krauth, Joachim A. Thole and Dr. Frank Waimer constitute the GET of the Schwabe Group.
The GET is supported in its work by a seven-member advisory board. The members of the Advisory Board are Stefan Genten, Thorsten Klapproth, Katrin Lenz, Dr. Rinaldo Riguzzi (Chairman), Dr. Achim Schwabe, Markus W. Schwabe and Tilmann Wächter.
Our approach
People nowadays want a holistic approach to their health solutions. They may want products that will help them maintain good health or drugs to relieve or resolve an illness, depending on what phase of life they are in, their cultural background and personal attitudes, and how they experience their individual health. In addition, they want more than just a specific product itself:
These days a holistic approach also means integrating digital solutions such as apps to support the consumer. To fulfill these different customer wishes, we focus not only on the classic area of manufacturing products but on new paths as well.
Consequently, we are stakeholders in innovative start-ups around the world so we can develop digital tools parallel to our products. The Schwabe Group has channeled its European activities in this field into the company NatureX.
On a parallel basis, we have launched the Schwabe Phyto Innovation Challenge, a unique project in herbal medicine research. In keeping with our open-innovation approach, we have made ourselves available to universities and start-ups as a business partner so that together we can develop new solutions in the field of health care. We support these cooperative efforts in a variety of ways, including financial backing of around one million euros. If you are interested, we invite you to apply at phyto-innovation.com.
Code of Conduct of the Schwabe Group
Our Code of Conduct summarizes our principles. It creates the framework for how we interact with each other and how we behave in the market. It is binding for everyone in the Schwabe Group worldwide. At the same time, it is also binding for everyone who has any business of any kind with the Schwabe Group.
Please open the file below to learn more about the Code of Conduct which encompasses all of the experience and values that have defined our actions to date and led us to success.
Code of Conduct
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Working for your health and modern herbal medicine since 1866 – and that’s how it will stay.
We accept responsibility: for a healthy company, for the environment and for society.