Beeswax Skin Cream May be Marketed Throughout US

Del. Man Hopes to Take Skin Cream Nationwide
By Maureen Milford, The News Journal (USA), 4/30/2006

Late last year, Isabella mounted a campaign to take his over-the-counter skin cream, Formula II Skin Care Cream, to the next level. Sales in the first quarter of 2006 already have surpassed all of 2005.

"I just figured I have an awesome product and I gotta get it out there," said Isabella, 44, of the cream that has found a niche in hospitals and among health care professionals for everything from treating diaper rash to dryness from radiation treatment.

The story of Formula II is filled with business lessons -- from build-a-better-mousetrap to don't-get-too-comfy. It began in the 1960s, when Isabella's father, Sam, also a pharmacist, got a customer request for a cream that first appeared on the market in 1903. When Sam Isabella discovered it had been discontinued in the 1950s, he called the product's manufacturer and got the formula.

Sam Isabella made a batch for the customer and continued to mix up some cream for family and friends. It soon became clear that the cream, made of mineral oil, distilled water, beeswax and rose oil, among other things, was unbeatable on diaper rash and other skin ailments, Isabella said...