Our goal is to be the undisputed leader in off-patent plant protection product development. We are passionate about being the best at what we do, and working only with the best.
We have focused on building exceptional scientific and regulatory expertise in house, which enables us to be innovative in all aspects of the product development process.
Our scientists focus on applying their scientific and regulatory knowledge to “work smarter”, challenge perceived wisdoms, and avoid reinventing the wheel when it comes to getting products to market. Where possible, this enables us to get to market first, without ever compromising on quality. It also enables us to develop innovative solutions to our customers’ needs, partnering with our distributors to bring to market products that solve real problems in the field.
To find out more about our products, click on the links below.
FAQs on Life Scientific off-patent crop protection products
- Why should I use Life Scientific products?
- How do you make a product that performs in the same way as standard products on the market?
- How do I know Life Scientific’s product will work as well as the leading products on the market?
- The market leaders provide a lot of advice on how to use their products. Can I get this kind of advice for Life Scientific products?
- I’ve heard some negative things about generic producers/generic products – are they true?
- How is Life Scientific different from other off-patent companies?
- Why haven’t I heard of Life Scientific before now?
1. Why should I use Life Scientific products?
Life Scientific products are equivalent to current standard products on the market. Once the patents and other regulatory protections on these products expire, we are free to make products that perform in the same way. We apply 16 years' experience of crop protection product development and registration to developing optimised formulations. Scientifically and technically, this is very challenging, but our expertise and our emphasis on innovation in all aspects of the product development process ensures that we consistently produce the highest quality products.
Our scientists specialise in analytical, formulation and organic chemistry. They use sophisticated techniques to identify and quantify at the molecular level every component required to make up the product. This approach is complex and technically challenging; it requires a depth of scientific and regulatory knowledge that is unique to Life Scientific, setting us apart from our competitors who often rely on achieving “comparable” products unlike ours which are optimised formulations of market standards.
Detailed analysis proves that the Life Scientific formulation (below) is identical to the current market standard (above)
2. How do you make a product that performs in the same way as standard products on the market?
By knowing (a) what the standard products are made up of and (b) what makes them work. Our product development strategy is to ensure that we precisely match the leading products in the market in order to ensure that our product performs to an equivalent standard from a safety, stability, spray tank mixing, application and efficacy perspective.
We analyse the leading standard products in the market using a range of sophisticated techniques to identify the individual components present. This enables us to develop an optimised formulation for the Life Scientific product. To make sure our formulation behaves in an identical way to the market standards, we work out how the active ingredient gets to the site of action, and how the properties of the formulation influence this. We then build this knowledge into the final product specification to ensure that every batch provides the necessary crop protection, in exactly the same way as the leading products on the market.
3. How do I know Life Scientific’s product will work as well as the leading products on the market?
The decision on whether the Life Scientific product is equivalent to current standards is ultimately made by the Regulatory Authorities. Our product development process involves a rigorous scientific approach to understanding what makes the product work. We then submit our formulation to the Regulator. The product registration process is very exacting. Every component of the product above 0.06% (6 parts per 10,000) has to be identified and investigated. Differences in composition between current standards and the Life Scientific formulation are only allowed if the Regulator is completely satisfied that no risk is posed by these.
4. The market leaders provide a lot of advice on how to use their products. Can I get this kind of advice for Life Scientific products?
Yes, through our distributors. What we do best is chemistry and registration, and we believe in the credo of focusing on what you’re best at. We also believe in the partnering with the best for the things we don’t do ourselves. That’s why we only sell our products through distributors who we know are highly respected and trusted by their customers for the advice they provide. That way we know our products will be sold to growers as the best solution for their needs, and that growers will be fully supported in using the Life Scientific product range. Of course, our teams of development and registration scientists also have a huge amount of knowledge in-house on how our products work, and we’re always happy to talk directly to customers.
5. I’ve heard some negative things about generic producers/generic products – Are they true?
Not everyone in the generics industry performs to the same standard. But there are also a few “myths” about off-patent products. For instance, multi-national producers may say that an off-patent product isn’t as good because it doesn’t look identical to their product when analysed. An off-patent product must contain the same % active ingredient as the current standard in the market. However, any sample of active ingredient will also contain related compounds, generated during the manufacturing process, including intermediates and by-products common to all chemical synthesis. These related compounds are assessed for toxicity by the Regulators, and the active ingredient source will only be approved if and when the Regulators are satisfied that they pose no risk. So a product doesn’t have to look completely identical when analysed to be able to perform in exactly the same way when used. In regulatory speak, it must be equivalent. As regards the formulation, everyone knows that the multinationals' formulations are best. That’s why we focus so much of our resources on developing optimised versions of these.
6. How is Life Scientific different from other off-patent companies?
We are scientists and regulatory experts, so there is huge depth to our knowledge of the chemistry and regulation of crop protection products. Unlike a lot of other off-patent producers, we have our own GLP laboratories and our own regulatory teams, local to our European target markets, so we have all the key knowledge of product development and registration in-house.
At the production stage, we assure our products are produced to the standard that guarantees equivalent performance to the market leader. We only source active ingredients from reputable suppliers/manufacturers who meet our high quality requirements. We apply stringent quality controls to assure the purity of the active ingredient and to ensure the product meets all quality parameters necessary to guarantee that it will perform as expected.
Our scientific and regulatory knowledge, and our approach to product development means that we can bring innovative products to market quickly, without compromising on quality. We focus on quality and innovation in our product development and registration process and work closely with our distributor partners to ensure that the products we bring to market meet the specific needs of their customers.
7. Why haven’t I heard of LS before now?
You’ve probably used products we’ve developed! We’ve specialised in crop protection products since Life Scientific was set up 16 years ago. For most of that time, we’ve developed products on a contract basis for clients ranging from multi-nationals to virtual operations.
Life Scientific scientists analyse complex molecular structures like this one during the product development process.
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