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Pharmacist Dr. Lothar Kabelitz turns 65!
Dr. Lothar Kabelitz, Managing Director of PhytoLab GmbH & Co. KG in Vestenbergsgreuth, celebrated his 65th birthday on April 4th. His name and his work have been inextricably linked with herbal medicines for many years now.
Dr. Lothar Kabelitz, Managing Director of PhytoLab GmbH & Co. KG in Vestenbergsgreuth, celebrated his 65th birthday on April 4th. His name and his work have been inextricably linked with herbal medicines for many years now.
A man with an eye for detail, he still sees the complete picture – ideal prerequisites for combining analytical and regulatory requirements with entrepreneurial far-sightedness in the service of PhytoLab's customers. Dr. Lothar Kabelitz will be retiring at the end of April following his extremely successful working life.
Born in Brunswick in 1942, Lothar Kabelitz did his Abitur at Mönchengladbach grammar school specialising in humanities before moving on to Würzburg to study pharmaceutics and obtaining his doctor's degree with Professor C. H. Brieskorn in 1970 with a thesis on hydroxy fatty acids in rosemary leaves. He already started to make a lasting impression during his student days, when he collected 200 indigenous plants, dried them, wrote a monograph on each one and put them together to compile a unique herbarium that is now on exhibition in the herbal pharmacy of the open-air museum in Bad Windsheim.
The young pharmacist's first job in the pharmaceutical industry was with Hoffmann La Roche AG in Grenzach, where he was responsible for the production and bottling of sterile medicinal drugs. Two years later, he moved to E. Scheurich Pharmwerk GmbH in Appenweier, where he was employed as head of production with subsequent promotion to technical director. When Scheurich was sold and the Appenweier facility closed down, he took over the management of the pharmaceutical division of Martin Bauer GmbH & Co. KG in 1991. Then, as the "Quality Assurance/Science" division was disincorporated with its 43 employees to become the independent laboratory company PhytoLab, Dr. Lothar Kabelitz took over its management together with Adolf Wedel.
Under their leadership, PhytoLab developed into a service-producing company for the pharmaceutical sector with worldwide renown, providing services in the fields of plant analysis, contaminant analysis, reference substances, development and validation of new procedures, pharmacovigilance and the preparation of registration dossiers, as well as expert opinions for the evaluation of drugs, foodstuffs and cosmetics.
The most recent milestone in the company's history was the construction of an ultra-modern laboratory building with 1600 square metres of floor space in 2005. PhytoLab now employs 130 people, including 30 natural scientists. "PhytoLab was the most stimulating challenge of my life, I am proud of my dedicated team", Dr. Lothar Kabelitz admitted. He is therefore delighted that his two closest colleagues - graduate biologist Cornelia Höhne and pharmacist Dr. Hartwig Sievers - have already been strengthening the management team since August 2006.
Dr. Lothar Kabelitz has been making intensive contributions to the discussions concerning the quality of herbal medicinal products for many years now. The main focal points of his prolific publications and lectures included, and still include, contaminants of herbal raw materials, such as pesticides, heavy metals or mycotoxins and the microbiological quality of plant-based products. Never one to speak down from the ivory tower of science, pharmacist Kabelitz always puts science in the service of preserving and improving herbal medicinal and food products for the customers and the patients. Dr. Lothar Kabelitz is authorised to test official control samples (in accordance with § 65 subsection 4 of the German Drug Law [AMG]), as well as being a state-appointed, sworn expert for the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) in Nuremberg.
Dr. Lothar Kabelitz has been actively involved in the work performed by various committees and working groups within the German Medicines Manufacturers Association (BAH) since 1975. He represented the BAH as a member of the Expert Committee for Prescription Requirements within the former German Federal Health Office (BGA) for many years, as well as being a member of the Transparency Commission. He was long-standing Chairman of the BAH Medicinal Pharmaceutical Committee and his current activities include membership of the Phytopharmaceuticals Committee. He was already awarded the Hans W. Bach Order of Merit by the BAH in honour of his professional and expert political commitment in 1988.
Dr. Lothar Kabelitz will be retiring at the end of April. For a man like him, this will mean finally having more time for all of the things that he always wanted to do in greater depth. He will continue to work on his "History of medicinal plants" and on the chapter on analysis in the German "Handbuch des Arznei- und Gewürzpflanzenbaus" [Handbook of medicinal and spice plant cultivation] published by Saluplanta e.V. He will also continue to give lectures and concern himself with the common roots of western and Chinese medicine within the framework of a series of talks. Apart from these activities, Dr. Lothar Kabelitz will still maintain his associations with PhytoLab and the nature network.
Furthermore, he will have time for non-scientific hobbies: for photography and above all, for music. Dr. Lothar Kabelitz has been taking photographs for 50 years and has accumulated innumerable pictures of the most diverse plants – a botanist's dream come true. A serious alternative to pharmaceutics at the beginning of his professional career, music finally remained a hobby - albeit a passionate one - to which the retired pharmacist would like to devote more of his attention. Happily married since 1969, he is also looking forward to spending more time with his wife Carola, with whom he shares his enjoyment of culture and travel.
We wish Dr. Lothar Kabelitz a very happy and enjoyable retirement!
The Management
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