Heel

Dr. Reckeweg was a German physician, who received his medical degree in Berlin, who practiced homeopathy. In 1936, Biologische Heilmittel Heel GmbH was founded in Berlin to develop and market his preparations. In 1953 Reckweg moved the company to its present location in Baden-Baden. Between the companies founding year 1936 and 1979 (when Reckeweg relocated to Albuquerque) he developed over 1,000 different homeopathic preparations available through Heel GmbH. When Reckeweg relocated to Albuquerque he created Biological Homeopathic Industries (BHI) and began manufacturing combination remedies in tablet form. In 1997, the Albuquerque company was renamed Heel USA Inc. In 2014, Heel USA became independent from the German Heel organization and operates under the name MediNatura Inc, which now manufactures and distributes BHI products and is the only legal importer of Heel products in the USA. In the USA, there could be multiple semi-independent entities, such as MediNatura New Mexico.

A number of scientific articles have shown the effect of traumeel on gene transcription compared to diclofenac. Tr14 and diclofenac had very different effects on the COX/LOX synthetic pathway after cutaneous wounding. Traumeel allowed normal autoinduction of COX2 mRNA, but suppressed mRNA levels for key enzymes in the leukotriene synthetic pathway. Traumeel appeared to have a broad ‘phytocellular’ effect on the wound transcriptome by altering the balance of cell types present in the wound.

Criticism

In 2012, Heel was criticized for funding a German blogger who smears scientists critical of homeopathy.