From monastery gardens to AI: Swiss pharmacy from yesterday to today

Anyone entering a pharmacy today expects competent advice, modern medicines and perhaps a digital prescription on their smartphone. But the road there was long and at times astonishingly adventurous. The history of pharmacy in Switzerland tells of monasteries and plague years, of secret formulations, travelling miracle healers and scientific breakthroughs. It is at the same time a mirror of Swiss society: pragmatic, innovative and always close to people.

The first remedies: healing arts from monasteries and mountains

Long before there were pharmacies, people in the Alps used medicinal plants against pain, fever or wounds. Arnica, gentian, sage or St John’s wort belonged to traditional folk medicine and were passed on across generations.

In the Middle Ages it was above all the monasteries that took on the role of medical centres. Monks and nuns tended herb gardens and produced ointments, tinctures and teas. Particularly significant was the monastery of St Gallen, whose famous 9th-century plan already showed a detailed medicinal garden — in a sense the first “pharmaceutical infrastructure” of Switzerland.

Medicine at the time was still a mixture of experience, religion and mysticism. Illnesses were often regarded as divine trials or as an imbalance of the bodily humours. Even so, astonishingly precise remedies emerged, although from today’s perspective some formulations seem rather questionable: powdered gemstones, animal components or wine with herbs were very much part of therapeutic practice.

The birth of the pharmacy

In the late Middle Ages, pharmacy slowly began to separate itself from medicine. Physicians diagnosed, apothecaries produced remedies. In cities such as Basel, Zurich and Bern the first public pharmacies appeared.

Basel developed early into a centre of the healing arts. The city benefited from its position on the Rhine and from trade in spices, herbs and chemical raw materials. Apothecaries soon counted as respected specialists — but also as people with secret knowledge. Many formulations were strictly guarded and passed on only within the family.

A 16th-century pharmacy was, incidentally, far more than a place to hand out medicines. It smelled of herbs, resins and alcohol, mortars rang through the rooms, and exotic ingredients from all over the world were stored in ornate vessels. Apothecaries had to be able not only to heal but also to trade, mix, calculate and sometimes improvise.

Plague, powders and quacks

The great European waves of plague hit Switzerland hard too. Apothecaries tried to fight the disease with fumigations, essences or herbal mixtures. Much of it probably helped little, but people sought hope and orientation.

At the same time the business of travelling healers and miracle doctors flourished. In market squares, elixirs were sold against almost everything: toothache, lovesickness or the frailty of age. Not infrequently these remedies contained alcohol, opium or simply ineffective ingredients.

Serious apothecaries increasingly distanced themselves from such “quacks”. Quality controls emerged, cities introduced regulations, and training became more important. With that began the development of pharmacy into a scientific discipline.

Paracelsus — the rebel from Switzerland

No name is as closely bound up with early Swiss pharmacy as Paracelsus. The physician and natural philosopher, born in Einsiedeln in the 16th century, revolutionised the medicine of his time.

He questioned much that was then regarded as immovable. Instead of ancient textbooks he trusted observation and experience. His sentence became famous:

“The dose makes the poison.”

With that, Paracelsus laid a cornerstone of modern pharmacology. For many substances can both heal and harm; what is decisive is the right amount.

Paracelsus experimented with minerals and chemical substances and thereby brought a new way of thinking into the production of medicines: away from magic and towards chemistry.

The industrial revolution of the remedy

In the 19th century pharmacy changed fundamentally. Science made enormous advances, active substances could be isolated and standardised, and industrial production began.

Basel in particular now developed into a global centre of the pharmaceutical industry. Out of small dye and chemical works grew companies that later became world-famous: Novartis, Roche and others decisively shaped modern drug research.

Interestingly, much of it did not begin with medicines at all, but with dyes for the textile industry. The chemical expertise from that branch eventually led to new medicinal substances — a fine example of how innovation often arises from unexpected directions.

With industrialisation the role of the pharmacy changed too. Medicines were increasingly produced industrially, while pharmacists concentrated more on counselling, quality assurance and patient care.

From the herbal book to a high-tech profession

Today pharmacy is thoroughly modern. Digital medication plans, personalised therapies, vaccinations in the pharmacy and artificial intelligence keep changing daily professional life.

And yet something remains astonishingly constant: pharmacists are to this day people who are trusted. They stand between science and everyday life, between high-tech medicine and human closeness.

Perhaps that is precisely the particular strength of Swiss pharmacy: it combines innovation with pragmatism, and the most modern research with a long tradition of care.

A story that continues to be written

The history of pharmacy in Switzerland is no dry chronicle of medicines and laboratories. It tells of people who wanted to heal — of a delight in experiment, of errors, discoveries and social change.

From the monastery garden to the biotech laboratory there runs an astonishing continuity: the wish to relieve suffering and promote health. Or, to put it differently: pharmacy has changed greatly over more than a thousand years, but its most important goal has remained.