Founded by David Navazio in his Bucks County garage, Newtown-based Gentell has become a global wound-care manufacturer with production facilities on several continents, writes Joseph N. DiStefano for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

In 1982, Navazio left his accounting program at La Salle University to sell medical equipment, eventually seeking products he could develop and market on his own.

His first product was a wound dressing Odor Eeze, with the antimicrobial hydantoin, which he named Gentell, suggesting “gentle” healing. He soon added blister treatments, gel inserts and wound cleansers.

Gentell now has over 1,000 employees at plants in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Paraguay, England, China and New Zealand. It currently projects sales of around $300 million in wound dressings and services in 2025, representing roughly ten percent of global pharmacy sales for similar products.

Gentell’s customers include about a third of the 15,000 nursing homes in the country.

According to Navazio, Gentell’s true strength lies not in manufacturing commodities but in gathering wound data and using those insights to recommend treatments.

“There’s not one magical dressing,” said Navazio. “It doesn’t need to be expensive. The characteristics of the wound should determine your treatment. You need to choose efficiently and apply it simply.”

Read more about how a Bucks County garage startup grew into a global leader in wound care, and what sets Gentell apart in the industry in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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