LIFE SCIENTIFIC:NICOLA MITCHELL is the founder and chief executive of two life sciences companies that have grown and prospered while eschewing borrowings or venture capital investment.
A chemist, with an MBA from Fordham University in the US, Mitchell based her first company, Life Scientific, on securing regulatory approval for new pesticides and agricultural chemicals on behalf of large manufacturers.
“There are different regulatory requirements in different countries and when you work on this on an exclusive basis you develop expertise which creates a business opportunity.”
Mitchell describes this business model as a “low risk, low return” but it has recorded steady annual growth from when the company was founded in 1995.
However the aim was always to branch out and develop its own product line and to that end Life Scientific developed an accredited laboratory in 1999 in Blackrock, Co Dublin.
“No one just wants to be a service company. The only way you will really achieve scale is if you have your own products. Since 2004 we have had financial wherewithal to start developing our own products and in 2006 were the first off-patent entrant of the world’s largest selling insecticide.”
A year after its UK launch, Imidasect became a market leader (outperforming Bayer’s Intercept 5GR) and has been approved in Germany, Denmark and Ireland. It is used to treat vine weevil.
While the product is based on an off-patent active ingredient molecule, all other development work, including the synthesis of the molecule and developing a formulation was carried out by LifeScientific.
She says the agro-chemical industry – which is dominated by six large firms – is increasingly looking for greener versions of existing technologies. Because only 30 per cent of molecules used in products remain on patent there are huge research opportunities.
The key is picking the right molecule as the building block for a new product and Mitchell regularly talks to agro-chemical distributors because of their direct link to farmers. “From distributors we get an idea of what’s happening and what’s needed.”
She adds that as a small firm in a fiercely competitive sector every advantage has to be utilised. “We are the only company in Europe specialising in developing generic products from off-patent molecules.”
She has avoided venture capital funding to date “because they take a short-term view” but is now considering seeking investment to accelerate expansion.
Mitchell received the NovaUCD 2009 Innovation Award and admits that having a base on the campus was hugely important at the early stage of the company’s development.
“Loath though I am to say it, when you have companies calling over it is often the tangibles that count more in the early stages.”
The company also received support from Enterprise Ireland for its research and development work.
Although genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not yet permitted in Europe, Mitchell believes their arrival is only a matter of time and in 2006 she established her second company, BioScientific Diagnostics, in preparation. It conducts bio-pharmaceutical analysis on a contract basis for larger firms.
Life Scientific employs 40 people, almost all of whom are PhD-level scientists, and has been profitable since day one, targeting revenues of over €4 million this year.
