INNOVATORS BY TRADITION
“IF THEY SO WISH, HUMANS CAN FIND REMEDIES FOR ALL THEIR ILLS IN NATURE”
Everything we need is right there, in nature. It’s just a matter of finding it and applying past and present knowledge to combine, process and preserve it, for a new balance between humans and nature, which is beneficial to both.
“When I founded Aboca over 40 years ago, I was convinced that plants were essential to humans for our own well-being and the treatment of diseases. This was a difficult position to sustain in a world where chemistry seemed to provide all the answers and where the extraordinary heritage of the natural world was relegated to so-called alternative or folk medicine.
This was in sharp contrast to my own belief that the world of plant-based substances should be subjected to rigorous research and clinical methods, not as an alternative to mainstream medicine, but as allied and compatible with it. Aboca was founded and has grown on this conviction, focusing on innovation, research and the use of cutting-edge technology.
Today the landscape has completely shifted. Even the scientific world has rediscovered the benefits of using complex plant-based substances that have co-evolved with humanity and can therefore interact with our bodies while respecting our biology.
This is why these substances are used to promote the well-being of the body as part of a concept of equilibrium aimed at improving the physiological condition of healthy humans.
Research has moved on. Modern extraction, production and analysis techniques are now able to extract Molecular Complexes from plant-based substances which, thanks to the way they work, can also be used to treat disease, thus benefitting those who are unwell.”
Valentino Mercati – Aboca Founder
OUR HISTORY
In the Spring of 1978, Valentino Mercati’s intuition led to the founding of Aboca. This was not only a company, but a project for life, an idea, a clear vision of the world and health, founded on a belief in all things truly natural.
After buying a farm in the Tuscan hills in a place called Aboca, Valentino Mercati fell in love with the world of organic farming and medicinal herbs, using that piece of land as a starting point to explore new frontiers in humankind’s relationship with nature.
Valentino studied the ancient traditions tying humans to medicinal herbs in depth, discovering an unimaginable world, where everything had already been discussed and used. He realised he had to make this enormous wealth of information available to all, by combining the results of thousands of years of history with the potential offered by new scientific and technological discoveries.
Aboca began its exploration in the field of natural health in a revolutionary way. It set up a fully vertically integrated supply chain, from the production of quality raw materials and organic farming, right up to testing the pharmacological and clinical effects of products.
Distribution also plays a key role through the development of selective networks and a pharmacy network under the Apoteca Natura brand, established in 2000. In 2016, Apoteca Natura acquired 80% of the AFAM municipal pharmacies in Florence, where it is experimenting with new ways of delivering pharmacy services.
In 2019, Aboca achieved a turnover of €228 million. Today it has 1,700 hectares of land where it cultivates more than 60 species of medicinal plants and owns 21 national and international patents. It exports to 17 countries and its products are distributed through pharmacies, parapharmacies and herbal shops. Over 1,600 employees work for the company in Italy and abroad.
THE SYSTEMIC VISION
Humans and nature share the same language, the genetic code, DNA. We develop natural molecular complexes that are the basis of our products by studying this connection.
Man, society and the environment are interconnected in a single living entity.
Humans, society and the environment are interconnected, making up a single living entity. This is the systemic vision of life, a complex relationship of constantly shifting elements. Science has taught us that humans and nature are built from the same material, DNA.
Through the language of the genetic code, humans and nature communicate in a dynamic exchange based on connections. The study of this language and these connections is the basis of research that redefines the very concept of health, no longer understood as the absence of illness, but as a dynamic and constant rebalancing of all the factors involved in our lives.
Through this approach, Aboca has developed a new way of taking care of our health, with innovative 100% natural products that harness the potential of complex plant-based substances by applying the criteria of Systems Medicine, which looks at the human body and the environment in which it lives as a complex integrated whole.
OUR VALUES
Consistency, Humility and Work are the values that guide us every day.
Consistency in the pursuit of finding solutions for health and well-being exclusively in nature, together with the humility that is reflected in the constant investment to demonstrate the scientific validity of our ideas and the training of thousands of healthcare professionals. All this demands great commitment and quality work, which requires a focus on people in order to be able to create something new that will not only have an impact today, but will leave its mark well into the future as well.