History

From a Bavarian company to an international network of suppliers.

Our history

The driving force behind our innovative power

We were pioneers as early as 1960, when our owner at the time began to build up a supplier network within Europe that is still unrivalled today. This farsighted act made it possible to meet the demand for specific medicines from working families who had migrated from large parts of Europe, by being able to reliably handle imports and individual imports of medicines from that time onwards. At the same time, this laid the foundation for ilapo's development into a specialised pharmaceutical wholesaler. Today, collaboration with what is now a worldwide network of suppliers gives us at ilapo a decisive advantage over our competitors, because we can find and procure all major medicines.

The 60s in Munich: Germany and its economy are booming; many migrant workers come to the country. The Internationale Ludwigs-Apotheke pharmacy in Munich responds to migrant workers’ wishes and offers them familiar medicines from their home countries. From these humble beginnings, a globally active company develops. In May 2006, the wholesale business is spun off from the Internationale Ludwigs-Apotheke. Internationale Ludwigs-Arzneimittel (ilapo) is founded.

Today

Over 40 highly specialised employees are looking after our German and international customers, supplying more than 70 countries with almost half a million pharmaceutical packages per year – and this number continues to grow.

Our history

From a Bavarian company to a worldwide supplier

ilapo wins the top award for outstanding customer relations and is one of Germany's Customer Champions 2015.

The steady growth of the business divisions as well as the high demands of GDP led to the company headquarters being relocated. The move to new, larger premises creates the logistical conditions for further growth. At the same time, all medicines are stored and packaged in accordance with GDP in air-conditioned and temperature-monitored rooms.

ilapo receives the Bavarian Export Award 2012 in the “Trade” category for its outstanding achievements.

ilapo was founded in its current form with the wholesale business being relocated to its own premises. The same year also saw the first international trade fair appearance at Arab Health (Dubai) and the establishment of a separate export division.

When Sabine Fuchsberger-Paukert joined the company’s management team, they systematically pushed ahead with consistently expanding pharmaceutical import and export as a separate business division.

In the 90s, wholesale activities steadily gained importance over pure pharmacy operations. This was mainly due to the first imports from the USA. The Internationale Ludwigs-Apotheke imported the first AIDS medicines for patients in Germany.

To meet the growing demand for international medicines due to the influx of migrant workers during the economic boom, the Picha family built up an international network of suppliers. While travelling, the polyglot owner Dr Karl Picha made new contacts with committed European pharmacists who were interested in building business relationships. The resulting network of suppliers is still ilapo's decisive advantage today.

At that time, a pharmacy’s main task was still producing medicines. But back then (and it is still the case today), important drug and manufacturing regulations were lacking for the domestic market. Pharmacist Carl Picha identified the gap and began importing pharmacopoeias in order to be able to produce new formulations. From then on, the company operated under the name Internationale Ludwigs-Apotheke.

ilapo was founded over 190 years ago as Ludwigs-Apotheke by Joseph Oberwegner, supposedly an illegitimate son of the Bavarian King Ludwig I.