Quality you can count on!

Although all starting materials used come exclusively from selected suppliers and are accompanied by certificates, every stage of production – from the raw material to the ready-to-use medicine – is subject to verification by the control laboratory. Routine testing of the source substances includes chemical, physico-chemical, microbiological and pharmacognostic examinations. It covers verification of purity, identity and content, as well as the recording of physical parameters.

The medicines of the Dr. Reckeweg company owe their high level of quality to a manufacturing process based on the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia (HAB), the German Pharmacopoeia (DAB) and the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.), and which complies with national and international production guidelines.

The harmony of tradition and modern technology

Superior-quality products, especially when manufactured using traditional processes, require state-of-the-art filling and packaging technologies.

Fully automated filling and packaging lines eliminate all physical contact between staff and product, guaranteeing absolutely hygienic manufacturing of the medicines.

Quality assurance

The quality control system of the pharmaceutical company Dr. Reckeweg & Co. GmbH is based on rigorous incoming inspection, complete in-process control and final control. These controls include verification of the manufacturing protocols, checking of all intermediate stages – including the bulk product – and monitoring of filling and packaging.

During these checks, the emphasis is placed on in-process controls of the raw materials (for example measuring temperatures, mixing times, trituration times and alcohol content during the manufacture of bulk goods, and documenting the manufacturing operation), since beyond a certain dilution it is no longer possible to prove the presence of active principles in homeopathic medicines.

The documentation of all manufacturing and test protocols, kept in the form of batch records for a period of more than five years, is also part of the quality assurance system. In addition, Dr. Reckeweg carries out periodic stability studies to guarantee the consistent quality of each preparation. This combination of manufacturing processes and quality control provides prescribers and patients with products of a high and reproducible level of quality.

Potentisation done by hand

Mother tinctures, DH and CH dilutions:

In homeopathy, medicines are used that are obtained by a specific manufacturing method – potentisation – from mineral, plant or animal source substances. Mother tinctures are prepared in accordance with the instructions of the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia (HAB), and are then further processed in decimal or centesimal dilution steps, known as DH or CH dilutions. Depending on the solubility of the tincture, two methods are possible: trituration (grinding) for insoluble substances, and succussion for soluble substances.

Potentisation always consists of a dilution followed by an input of mechanical energy. Dilution is carried out in ratios of 1:10 (decimal dilutions) or 1:100 (centesimal dilutions). During trituration, insoluble starting materials are subjected to a time-limited disaggregation and mixing process, at a rate of 1 part of source substance to 9 or 99 parts of lactose per step, by hand or using a trituration machine. If the starting materials are soluble, they are diluted with an alcohol-water mixture at a prescribed concentration and then shaken (potentised).

What do the letters and numbers after the name of a medicine mean (for example Arnica D6)?

• Arnica: name of the starting material
• D6 (dilution level): to produce this level of potentisation, nine parts of an alcohol-water mixture are added to one part of Arnica D5. Succussion (potentisation) of this liquid mixture then yields the medicine Arnica D6. This degree of dilution in turn serves as the starting basis for dilution level D7, and so on.

For potentisation – this manufacturing step used exclusively in homeopathy – the Dr. Reckeweg Bensheim company resolutely continues to do without mechanical aids. Hand succussion using the Hahnemannian separate-vial method has a long tradition: a tradition that has proven itself and will therefore be preserved.