ConvaTec is a global medical products and technology company that specifically focuses on products for the management of chronic conditions, including incontinence. Their company purpose is to improve the lives of the people that they touch, and they make products that deliver on a promise of mobility, confidence, and freedom. ConvaTec values caring for people, driving innovation and excellence, and earning trust.
ConvaTec has been making urinary catheters since 2008, when it acquired the Copenhagen-based company Unomedical. ConvaTec’s catheter products are produced under the brand name GentleCath™. On their website, they emphasis the GentleCath™ catheters’ polished and rounded eyelets (to minimize friction), and the soft, rounded tip of their catheters to aid smooth insertion. (These are features that most, if not all, modern catheters have.)
In 2012, ConvaTec acquired 180Medical, a popular catheter distributor in the United States. There isn’t a lot of information on either company’s site about 180Medical’s status as a subsidiary of ConvaTec, and it’s something to keep in mind if you’re using 180Medical as a distributor.
In addition to providing the catheters themselves, ConvaTec has a program called me+™ that provides catheter users with training videos that feature content that’s personalized on the basis of gender, age, dexterity level, and more. Their website features a user stories section, answers to frequently asked questions, and a monthly blog (that hasn’t been updated since July 2019).
- GentleCath™ Uncoated
- GentleCath™ Glide/GentleCath™ Hydrophilic*
- GentleCath™ Pro-Closed System
*Though the GentleCath™ Hydrophilic and the GentleCath™ Glide catheters are listed as separate products on ConvaTec’s GentleCath™ website, there’s little documentation online to support that they’re actually two different types of products – the instructions for use for both are identical and there are no separate FDA filings for the two catheter types. For now, we’ve grouped these catheters together.