 Christof
Jaenicke, MD, co-founder and chief medical advisor of the Berlin-based
international natural products consulting and research firm analyze & realize
GmbH, died on January 4, 2017, after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer,
just 12 days before his 64th birthday.
Born
in Erlangen, Germany, in 1953, Jaenicke founded a publicity agency for
musicians at the age of 16, and then studied marketing management and business
administration at the Free University of Berlin. After graduating, he switched
his course of study to human medicine, receiving a doctorate in medicine and serving
as an intern pediatric surgeon at a clinic in Berlin.
Jaenicke
entered the world of pharmaceuticals and worked first as the medical director
at the Swiss pharmaceutical company Ciba-Geigy, which later merged with another
pharmaceutical company to form Novartis, and then in various other positions at
other companies, including Sterling-Winthrop, Fresenius, and the phytomedicine
company Lichtwer Pharma. At Lichtwer, he met a man who would eventually become
his long-time business partner and close friend, European phytomedicine expert
Joerg Gruenwald, PhD. Gruenwald and Jaenicke delved into natural products, and developed
one of the world’s most clinically tested garlic (Allium sativum, Liliaceae) products (brand name: Kwai) and the
world standard for St. John’s wort (Hypericum
perforatum, Hypericaceae) phytomedicines (LI 160, brand name: Jarsin). With
Gruenwald leading the clinical research and Jaenicke leading the marketing, Lichtwer’s
Kwai and Jarsin became top-selling products in the German market.
After
he left Lichtwer, Jaenicke opened Background Consultancy in 1991 and, together
with Gruenwald, founded PhytoPharm Consulting in 1996. Over the course of his
career, he and Gruenwald established or co-founded more than 20 companies in
nine countries around the world.
In
the late 1990s, Jaenicke contributed to The
Physician’s Desk Reference for Herbal Medicines (Medical Economics, 1998),
based on the German Commission E monographs, which quickly became a popular
text on the clinical applications of botanicals. An addition to the reference, The PDR Family Guide to Natural Medicines
and Healing Therapies, was published in 1999, also with input from
Jaenicke. From 2003-2006, he and Gruenwald co-authored five more botanical- and
phytotherapy-focused reference works.
Jaenicke
and Gruenwald founded analyze & realize in 2001, and Jaenicke served first
as CEO and, after 2013, as the chief medical advisor. While the company began
as a consulting firm that specialized in medicinal herbal products, it
eventually expanded its mission to include natural product research, functional
food and food supplement development, and clinical study performance.
Jaenicke’s research focused on functional foods, plant-based ingredients, such
as lycopene, and the untapped potential of medicinal plants from around the
globe, including Malaysia and Vietnam.
Gruenwald
delivered a eulogy for Jaenicke, in which he described him as “racing at high
speed … always searching for new challenges and never satisfied with a status
quo, his environment, and especially himself…. Christof was always a dominant,
space-roving personality, full of spirits, always full of new ideas and plans.”
Thomas
Hafner, with whom Jaenicke helped found InQpharm, wrote: “Christof was a true
friend, a loyal colleague, a tireless fighter and believer in our cause, a
brilliant mind, and a true legend in many ways. Whilst he may no longer be with
us, his signature on some of our lives and our organization mean that he will
stay amongst us forever” (email to J. Gruenwald, January 4, 2017).
Friends
and colleagues remember Jaenicke’s charisma and natural salesmanship. “When he
was selling and negotiating … he always took new arguments out of his sleeve.
He simply chattered to people so hard that they gave up and agreed with him,”
Gruenwald recalled in his eulogy. “But now you are gone, Christof…. I do not
know yet how [we] will proceed without you.”
Christof
Jaenicke is survived by his wife Susanne and his four children.
—Hannah
Bauman
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