COMPANY HISTORY - Protina Pharmazeutische GmbH
COMPANY HISTORY - Protina Pharmazeutische GmbH
COMPANY HISTORY - Protina Pharmazeutische GmbH
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<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> Company and Product History 1<br />
<strong>COMPANY</strong> <strong>HISTORY</strong><br />
Over 100 years of<br />
experience with minerals<br />
Before you become immersed in the history of<br />
Klopfer-Nährmittelwerke, a foodstuff company<br />
rich in tradition, and later <strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong>,<br />
let us take a quick look at the present. With<br />
regard to our work with minerals like, for example,<br />
magnesium or sulphur, we look back on a<br />
century of experience. During this time, our<br />
products were adapted to the changed living<br />
conditions and now fulfill the current requirements<br />
placed on medicinal products suitable for<br />
patients and on useful food supplements.<br />
In our company, the orientation of activities<br />
towards the welfare of patients has a successful<br />
tradition:<br />
- The development of the optimal dosages of<br />
active substances.<br />
- The constant improvement of the tolerance of<br />
our products.<br />
- The most stringent quality control measures<br />
from the raw materials to the finished product.<br />
- An extensive information service for patients<br />
and specialist circles.<br />
These have all been as much an integral part of<br />
our business philosophy as is the careful utilization<br />
of natural resources. Our present and future<br />
efforts to offer up-to-date preparations combined<br />
with an informative product service will also<br />
continue to be the hallmarks of the subsequent<br />
history of our company.<br />
1900 - 1940<br />
In 1900, Dr. Volkmar Klopfer (1874 - 1943) – at<br />
that time, still a chemistry student – founded<br />
the foodstuff works that bears his name in<br />
Dresden-Leubnitz. He produced food products<br />
from grain using methods based on completely<br />
new scientific findings and thereby revolutionized<br />
the grain processing industry. He investigated<br />
the chemical components of cereals –<br />
especially minerals and protein.<br />
Easily digestible wholemeal bread and<br />
wholemeal flour<br />
In 1913 some time after obtaining a doctorate in<br />
chemistry, he produced wholemeal flour from<br />
rye. At that time, rye was known only as animal<br />
feed and was much less expensive than wheat.<br />
Dr. Klopfer obtained a patent for a process that<br />
makes wholemeal bread from wholemeal flour<br />
easily digestible and thereby greatly improves its<br />
nutritional value. When the railroad freight rates<br />
increased so greatly after the First World War<br />
that flour could not be economically transported<br />
more than 100 km, Dr. Klopfer developed the<br />
pure rye bran. Bran is considerably lighter than<br />
flour and can be marketed throughout the whole<br />
of Germany. Consumers mix the patented<br />
Klopfer Bran with white flour and obtain a fully<br />
adequate wholemeal flour.<br />
The chemical works was created<br />
The foodstuff works got into financial difficulties<br />
during the world economic crisis after the First<br />
World War and it was converted into a jointstock<br />
company by the creditor banks. Although<br />
Dr. Klopfer was appointed to be the director, he<br />
was dissatisfied with this job and in December<br />
1924, he founded a new company together with<br />
his longtime companion Martha Hadlich (1883 -<br />
1961): Chemische Werk Dr. Klopfer. The production<br />
now focused mainly on medicinal products<br />
with mineral active substances. The brands<br />
Glidine, Bryonon, Basica, Diasporal, and Schwefelbad<br />
Dr. Klopfer were already created during<br />
this period.<br />
As an entrepreneur, Dr. Klopfer translated his<br />
own social ideas into action; and as a scientist,<br />
he was one of the pioneers of the physiology of<br />
nutrition. Dr. Volkmar Klopfer died after a stroke<br />
in 1943 at the age of 69.<br />
<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> � Adalperostraße 37 � D-85737 Ismaning � Phone +49 (0)89-99 65 53 -0 � Fax +49 (0)89-96 34 46 � www.protina.de
<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> Company and Product History 2<br />
1940 untill today:<br />
<strong>Protina</strong> was born<br />
In 1942, the company <strong>Protina</strong> Chemische <strong>GmbH</strong><br />
was founded in Munich by Josef zur Hörst sen.<br />
and Dr. Franz Weilguny, Dr. Klopfer’s son-in-law.<br />
Its first product was Garmastan, a preparation<br />
for nursing mothers.<br />
After the plant was bombed one year later, the<br />
production of medicinal products was temporarily<br />
taken over until 1945 by Chemische Werk Dr.<br />
Klopfer in Dresden. In 1945, the reconstruction<br />
of <strong>Protina</strong> in Freising, Untere Hauptstraße 14,<br />
was accomplished by three partners: Dr. Robert<br />
von Werz M.D., the farmer Josef zur Hörst, and<br />
the engineer Dr. Franz Weilguny. In 1950, a<br />
second company, Vertriebsgesellschaft<br />
Chemisches Werk Dr. Klopfer mbH, was founded<br />
in Freising with Dr. Franz Weilguny as the managing<br />
director. This proved to be a fortunate<br />
decision after the end of the Second World War<br />
and the division of Germany because in this way<br />
all products and brands could be preserved in<br />
the West. In 1952, the companies moved into<br />
their own building in Munich-Moosach and a 30year<br />
buildup phase began.<br />
When new WHO requirements were placed on<br />
the production and monitoring of medicinal<br />
products at the end of the 80s, the <strong>Protina</strong> partners<br />
decided to build new modern production<br />
facilities in Ismaning just outside of Munich.<br />
Although everything seemed inordinately large at<br />
first, <strong>Protina</strong> had tripled its turnover within a few<br />
years, and so additional buildings soon had to be<br />
rented. During the following years, Klopfer and<br />
<strong>Protina</strong> merged more and more until Klopfer<br />
became a 100 % subsidiary of <strong>Protina</strong> in 1987.<br />
In 2002 there's expansion again: a new distribution<br />
and administration centre with a fully automatic<br />
warehouse is put into operation next door.<br />
Apart from modern production facilities which<br />
meet WHO standards, <strong>Protina</strong> has the most upto-date<br />
logistics facilities in Ismaning to help<br />
successfully meet the challenges of the future.<br />
Today as well, <strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> and Klopfer<br />
Nährmittel Vertriebs <strong>GmbH</strong> stand for high-quality<br />
medicinal products, food supplement preparations,<br />
and cosmetics which are manufactured in<br />
accordance with the WHO (World Health Organization)<br />
guidelines in the companies' own production<br />
centres in Ismaning near Munich and are<br />
sold in Germany and 14 other countries.<br />
PRODUCT <strong>HISTORY</strong><br />
Basica:<br />
Magic potion of the German<br />
football champions of 1990<br />
Based on the theories of the nutritionist Ragnar<br />
Berg, Dr. Volkmar Klopfer developed Basica for<br />
deacidification and purification in the twenties.<br />
Berg's research was focused on the human mineral<br />
balance, and Dr. Klopfer dealt with the<br />
processing of minerals. Both were steadfast in<br />
their desire to serve the health and well-being of<br />
mankind. Together they achieved the great success:<br />
Basica.<br />
During the 1986 football World Cup in Mexico,<br />
the West German team relied on Basica and was<br />
runner-up. The breakthrough with regard to the<br />
popularity of Basica came four years later. The<br />
German team won the title at the 1990 football<br />
World Cup in Italy. The press referred to the<br />
"secret in yellow bottles". The contents corresponded<br />
to the modern product Basica Sport.<br />
Twenty basic minerals and trace elements in<br />
proportions similar to their natural occurrence in<br />
fruit and vegetables is the secret of Basica.<br />
Thousands of people, and since 1990 also many<br />
well-known top athletes, trust in Basica and<br />
have made Basica known far beyond the borders<br />
of Germany.<br />
Based on the knowledge of Ragnar Berg and Dr.<br />
Volkmar Klopfer, we can look back today on<br />
100 years of experience in the processing of<br />
minerals.<br />
Bryonon N:<br />
Grain as medicine<br />
Volkmar Klopfer occupied himself during the last<br />
few years of his life with vitamin research. For<br />
this purpose, he allowed a wide variety of plants<br />
to be grown on the company property.<br />
<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> � Adalperostraße 37 � D-85737 Ismaning � Phone +49 (0)89-99 65 53 -0 � Fax +49 (0)89-96 34 46 � www.protina.de
<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> Company and Product History 3<br />
One of the results is reflected in Bryonon N, a<br />
vitamin B preparation based on Klopfer's experience<br />
in the processing of cereals. Bryonon N<br />
drops with a refined formula have been distributed<br />
until 2002.<br />
Garmastan:<br />
Relief for nursing mothers<br />
Garmastan has existed since 1935. The product<br />
has a curious history. In a Swiss pig-breeding<br />
farm, sows bearing young contracted milk fever,<br />
an infectious udder inflammation. At first, the<br />
diseased pigs were treated with the milk serum<br />
from convalescent pigs. Successes were only<br />
achieved when the milk serum from diseased<br />
animals which were previously administered a<br />
plant preparation was used. The plant medicament<br />
contained anti-inflammatory essential oils.<br />
Today Garmastan, which first came on the market<br />
in 1958 as an ointment, contains the antiinflammatory<br />
oil of guaiazulene from the guaiac<br />
tree. Garmastan has been one of the drugs of<br />
choice for generations to prevent breast infections<br />
in nursing mothers.<br />
Glidine: Plant protein<br />
One of the first achievements of Nahrungsmittelwerk<br />
Dr. Klopfer in Dresden was the development<br />
of the protein concentrate Glidine from<br />
purely plant materials. It consisted exclusively of<br />
wheat protein.<br />
According to recent findings on essential amino<br />
acids, Glidine is now composed of wheat and<br />
soybean protein and, therefore, contains a useful<br />
combination of all amino acids which is particularly<br />
easily digestible and shows a high degree of<br />
biological usability. Glidine is therefore especially<br />
suitable as a food supplement for vegetarians,<br />
senior citizens, athletes, and all others who wish<br />
to dispense with meat<br />
Magnesium-Diasporal:<br />
Magnesium on the road to success<br />
The success story of Magnesium Diasporal began<br />
in 1954 when the injectable solution was<br />
put on the market followed by the lozenges in<br />
1956. Here too, <strong>Protina</strong> was ahead of its time;<br />
for the magnesium boom began almost 20 years<br />
later.<br />
Whereas the importance of other cations like<br />
potassium, calcium, and sodium had been wellknown<br />
for some time, it was only at the end of<br />
the sixties that magnesium was intensively investigated.<br />
In 1968, a Freiburg scientist recognized<br />
the biological function and therefore also<br />
the medical importance of magnesium.<br />
Magnesium is an essential mineral that influences<br />
numerous metabolic functions and cannot<br />
be formed by the body itself. Above all the functioning<br />
and performance of the muscles like, for<br />
example, the heart are supported by magnesium.<br />
By supplying an adequate amount of magnesium,<br />
therefore, typical symptoms of a magnesium<br />
deficiency like, for example, muscle<br />
spasms can be counteracted.<br />
Today <strong>Protina</strong> has more than 2000 scientific<br />
articles about magnesium at its disposal. <strong>Protina</strong><br />
achieved another milestone in 1971: Magnesium-Diasporal<br />
300 Granular Powder. A packet<br />
containing 300 mg of magnesium meets the<br />
WHO-recommended daily requirement - and that<br />
with a single administration and outstanding<br />
bioavailability. In comparison, you require 18<br />
bananas to meet this magnesium requirement.<br />
Schwefel-Diasporal: Sulphur<br />
against skin diseases<br />
Dr. Klopfer's scientific interest was always focused<br />
on minerals. His first developments in the<br />
chemical works were dedicated to the active<br />
substance sulphur.<br />
<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> � Adalperostraße 37 � D-85737 Ismaning � Phone +49 (0)89-99 65 53 -0 � Fax +49 (0)89-96 34 46 � www.protina.de
<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> Company and Product History 4<br />
At that time, Schwefel-Diasporal was produced<br />
for intravenous and intramuscular injection.<br />
Later, preparations for application to the skin<br />
against skin impurities and acne were developed;<br />
these still exist today: Schwefel-Diasporal Cream<br />
and Schwefel-Diasporal Solution.<br />
Since sulphur has also been traditionally used for<br />
the treatment of rheumatic complaints, Dr.<br />
Klopfer also developed a preparation for this area<br />
of application: Schwefelbad Dr. Klopfer. Schwefelbad<br />
Dr. Klopfer was first offered for sale in<br />
powder form, and now as a fragrant emulsion<br />
for use as a supportive balneological treatment<br />
of rheumatic symptoms.<br />
PERSONALITIES<br />
Dr. Volkmar Klopfer<br />
(1874 -1943)<br />
The resourceful Saxon<br />
Dresden is the cradle of today's <strong>Protina</strong> Pharm.<br />
<strong>GmbH</strong>. It was there where Dr. Volkmar Klopfer<br />
founded the Nahrungsmittelwerk Dr. Klopfer in<br />
1900 at the age of only 25. Later, he gained his<br />
doctorate in chemistry at the University of<br />
Rostock. His research led to his first patent on<br />
the "Separation of Wheat Flour into Starch and<br />
Protein".<br />
In his foodstuff works, he used the protein and<br />
mineral extracts obtained to increase the nutritional<br />
value of bread and noodles. A revolutionary<br />
finding: macaroni can be so enriched that it<br />
is as nourishing as meat.<br />
At about the same time, Dr. Klopfer developed<br />
the purely plant protein concentrate Glidine.<br />
Glidine contains all essential amino acids and is<br />
therefore an outstanding addition to the menu of<br />
vegetarians and elderly persons who often consume<br />
too little protein-containing food.<br />
As early as 1913, Dr. Klopfer recognized the<br />
importance of wholemeal rye flour. Until then,<br />
rye was only used as animal feed. At that time,<br />
wholemeal flour was produced from wheat<br />
which had to be imported at high cost. Following<br />
a patented method, Dr. Klopfer succeeded in<br />
processing the rye grain so carefully that fully<br />
adequate wholemeal flour was produced.<br />
Dr. Klopfer's view of social entrepreneurship<br />
was very modern. He financed a holiday home in<br />
the Erzgebirge for the workforce and gave every<br />
employee a small garden plot on the company<br />
property in order to improve the then poor nutritional<br />
situation of his employees.<br />
Ragnar Berg (1873- 1956)<br />
Developed Basica<br />
The pharmaceutical industrialist Carl August<br />
Lingner initiated both the famous Dresden Hygiene<br />
Museum (1930) and a research center for<br />
dental hygiene. The Swedish chemist and nutritionist,<br />
Ragnar Berg, worked there as the head<br />
of the chemical laboratory.<br />
Berg's scientific work always revolved around<br />
the mineral balance of the body and the diseases<br />
which occur as a result of a disturbed mineral<br />
balance. For his contributions, Columbia College<br />
in New York awarded him an honorary doctorate<br />
in 1931<br />
From 1934 until the end of the Second World<br />
War, he headed the nutrition physiology laboratory<br />
in the Dresden Johannstadt Hospital in<br />
which traditional medicine was combined with<br />
naturopathy. His research led to the idea for the<br />
mineral and trace element preparation Basica,<br />
which was developed by Dr. Volkmar Klopfer.<br />
Franz Gottfried Weilguny,<br />
The pharmacist and engineer<br />
(1900 - 1976)<br />
<strong>Protina</strong> founder<br />
Together with Josef zur Hörst (1901- 1974), Dr.<br />
Franz Weilguny founded the company <strong>Protina</strong><br />
Chemische <strong>GmbH</strong> in 1942 in Munich. After the<br />
plant was bombed a little later, he concentrated<br />
<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> � Adalperostraße 37 � D-85737 Ismaning � Phone +49 (0)89-99 65 53 -0 � Fax +49 (0)89-96 34 46 � www.protina.de
<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> Company and Product History 5<br />
in the following years up to 1945 on the reconstruction<br />
of <strong>Protina</strong> in Freising near Munich.<br />
Another company was founded in 1950:<br />
Klopfer-Nährmittel Vertriebsges. mbH. As a<br />
partner in and managing director of both companies,<br />
he played a major role in the preservation<br />
and further development of the Klopfer range of<br />
products<br />
Alexander Nestler,<br />
The chemist (1920 - 2000)<br />
Successful with sulphur and magnesium<br />
The chemist Alexander Nestler began his career<br />
at <strong>Protina</strong> in 1954 as the production and quality<br />
control manager. For over twenty years - from<br />
1964 until 1985 - he was closely connected<br />
with the important development phase of the<br />
company as a partner and managing director.<br />
By consistently expanding the range of sulphur<br />
preparations, <strong>Protina</strong> attained the position as the<br />
market leader in the sulphur segment. The development<br />
of the extensive range of magnesium<br />
products was also a result of his commitment<br />
Josef Kranzer,<br />
The businessman (*1942)<br />
Main emphasis on marketing<br />
Josef Kranzer began his career at <strong>Protina</strong> in<br />
1969 as a shareholder and managing director of<br />
Nährmittel Vertriebsges. m. b. H. A job which he<br />
held until 1987.<br />
From 1970 until 2001, Josef Kranzer was also<br />
the sales manager of <strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong>.<br />
Being in charge of the new building in Ismaning,<br />
he continued to play a major role in the development<br />
of the company.<br />
Dr. Thomas Nestler (*1948)<br />
The dedicated pharmacist<br />
Dr. Thomas Nestler joined the company in 1979<br />
and assumed several functions: as production<br />
and quality control manager as well as partner.<br />
Three years later in 1982, he and his partner<br />
implemented the plan for the construction and<br />
extension of the new production facilities in<br />
Ismaning. His main focus was on the building up<br />
of pharmaceutical production in accordance with<br />
GMP guidelines and, therefore, an innovative<br />
and ambitious production technology.<br />
In 1986, he took over the management of <strong>Protina</strong><br />
Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> from his father Alexander<br />
Nestler. After taking over the management of<br />
Klopfer-Nährmittel Vertriebsges. mbH one year<br />
later, he assumed control of the fusion of the<br />
two companies with Klopfer-Nährmittel as a<br />
100% subsidiary of <strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong>.<br />
The over 4.5 million packs which have been sold<br />
in Germany attest to the success of his efforts<br />
to turn <strong>Protina</strong> into one of the market leaders in<br />
the magnesium and acid-base market.<br />
<strong>Protina</strong> Pharm. <strong>GmbH</strong> � Adalperostraße 37 � D-85737 Ismaning � Phone +49 (0)89-99 65 53 -0 � Fax +49 (0)89-96 34 46 � www.protina.de