Company
History of CERES Heilmittel AG
Medicinal plants and their preparations look back on ancient traditions in all cultures, and they still form the basis of holistic treatment today. After phytotherapy (herbal medicine) had virtually been superseded by chemically synthesized preparations in the first half of the last century, it experienced a comeback during the last few decades thanks to pioneers such as the Swiss Alfred Vogel. The permanently growing demand for herbal medicines was met by increasingly large-scale production and the mechanisation of the manufacturing process.
In the seventies and eighties, doctors and therapists who were experienced in phytotherapy discovered that the efficacy of herbal preparations seemed to be decreasing. Were patients responding to these remedies to a lesser degree or was the quality of the remedies dropping? The majority of medicinal plant researchers saw the reason for the unsatisfactory efficacy firstly in the agents’ concentration being too low, and secondly in the fact that the agents’ concentrations fluctuated. Therefore, a new category of medicinal plant preparations was developed: high-dosage, standardized phytopharmaceuticals.
The chemist and researcher of medicinal plants, Dr. Roger Kalbermatten, however, conducted a number of studies proving that the loss in efficacy was not primarily due to the concentration of the active agents being too low. He regarded certain stages of the industrial manufacturing process as the main cause, especially the high-speed milling of the plants. Kalbermatten demonstrated that the high speeds plants were subjected to during mechanical comminution reduced their bioenergetic mechanisms of action. After this correlation had been identified, a new, careful manufacturing process needed to be developed.
In the late eighties, he and his team developed a procedure that was based on the original manufacturing tradition of Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy. Hahnemann had extracted the plants’ active constituents by grinding the plant material in a mortar. The Kalbermatten team now devised a mortar grinder that extracted the plants’ active constituents with alcohol added as a protective medium. This novel method of production – a synthesis of tradition and technology in accordance with the life laws – allowed the production of tinctures with a detectably stronger efficacy, which showed especially in the fact that the dosage could be considerably reduced.
In 1991 Dr. Roger Kalbermatten founded CERES Heilmittel AG together with his wife Hildegard and Godehard Graf Hoensbroech, a promoter of ecological projects, in Hefenhofen in Thurgau. The first years turned out to be extremely difficult, since CERES products in no way reflected the trend of the times. Most doctors and pharmacists concentrated on high-dosage, standardized products that promised reliable effects previously proved in studies. How was it possible in the face of this that CERES preparations with their frequently lower amounts of active ingredients could be effective?
According to the prevalent, scientific notion, these remedies contained non-material doses and were thus ineffective. Yet the perseverance of the founder, who in lectures, seminars and publications untiringly emphasized the great significance of the non-material mechanisms of action, of information and vital energy, encouraged more and more doctors and therapists to test these remedies in their practises. Their courage was more than rewarded. Practical application confirmed the researcher’s vision of herbal preparations developing a stronger, faster and more harmonious effect if they maintain a balance of all three mechanisms of action.
After a few years of practical testing, the holistic manufacturing process turned out to lend CERES mother tinctures a further dimension of action in addition to the known organic and functional effects. This further dimension affected mental health. This fact required investigating the mental aspects of the plants, their nature, and making this knowledge accessible to doctors and therapists.
As a consequence, Roger and Hildegard Kalbermatten extensively explored the nature and signature of the plants, the results of which were first published in 1997, in the CERES Heilmittel AG Compendium, and in 2002 in the book ‘Essence and Signature of Medicinal Plants’. These publications were crucial in leveraging CERES preparations and promoting their practical application. Cooperation with ebi-pharm ag in Kirchlindach, who took over marketing, began in 1997. This relieved CERES of hectic delivery tasks and allowed them to benefit from ebi-pharm’s extensive networking in the field of complementary medicine.
That way CERES was able to concentrate even more on its core competency – the production and quality of its remedies. In 2002 CERES moved to a new building that meets all the requirements of a modern pharmaceutical company. In addition to this, the architecture of these new premises was designed according to harmonical laws. So the building’s design, too, reflects the fact that production at CERES follows the harmonic laws of life.
