Early Years

The history of PADMA Inc. started around 1960, when Karl Lutz, a Swiss pharmaceutical entrepreneur, first heard about the effectiveness of Tibetan medicine through Cyrill von Korvin-Krasinsky, a Polish Benedictine monk. Krasinsky made contact with the last living Tibetan doctor in Poland, who was a nephew of the great Sul Tim Badma. In 1850 this eminent Tibetan physician came from Buryatia (Siberia) to St. Petersburg, and later on his family had to move to Poland for political reasons.

Around 1960 a descendent of the Tibetan physician’s family handed over the Tibetan formulas to Karl Lutz. A study group for Tibetan medicine in Zurich initiated by Lutz collected traditional records and information on the application of these formulas, which at that time were difficult to understand. Thanks to these records, the first and until today unique list of indications was developed in the 1960s in Zurich. This list of indications and the newly produced herbal tablets were then dispensed to interested physicians.

The Foundation of PADMA Inc.

Karl Lutz was encouraged by the positive feedback of these physicians and in 1969 founded PADMA Inc. in Zurich and began to manufacture Tibetan tablets based on these complex formulas using modern production methods. In 1970 Swiss Medic, Swiss Agency for therapeutic products, approved the first formula PADMA LAX (no. 179) and seven years later also PADMA 28.

Change of Management and Ownership

In 1994 Karl Lutz assigned the management of the company to his close collaborator Dr. Herbert Schwabl, a biophysicist from Vienna, Austria. In 1998 after Karl Lutz passed away, Herbert Schwabl acquired the majority of shares of PADMA Inc. from the family Lutz.

The collaboration between PADMA and Tibetan traditional physicians and medical institutions was intensified and extended to numerous countries all over the world. Early in 1999, the company moved to Schwerzenbach close to Zurich. Today the enterprise employs about 50 people.

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