Corridor home remedy breaks into the national market

Add Bruise Relief to the list of corridor home remedies [a la Boudreaux’s Butt Paste] to hit the national market. Years ago, skeptical former LSU medical school professor Dr. Nelson Holmquist put a five-generations-old home remedy under the microscope to discover how it virtually eliminated the appearance of bruises and skin discolorations. He discovered that certain compounds work with the body’s normal healing process to prevent discoloration and swelling after an injury. “He married into the family in the early 1970s and saw the family using it,” Malcolm Schwarzenbach, a company spokesman, tells 10/12 Weekly. “When they tried to put it on him, he said, ‘Are you crazy? Get that stuff away from me.’ But he was puzzled how it worked — especially with no active ingredients — so he made it his hobby to find out how it did.” The result was Bruise Relief, now produced by Mandeville-based Dr. Holmquist Healthcare LLC. CVS started selling the product in all 6,800 of its stores in February, and Walgreens now sells it regionally in South Louisiana, Texas and other parts of the Gulf Coast. It’s also in Supervalue, Target.com, Drugstore.com and a number of independent pharmacies. This week, Executive Vice President Barbara Cranner is working on another national distribution deal. — Penny Font