For many golf course superintendents, their view of a chemical company is of the products they use and the sales reps they deal with regularly. But how often do they see what’s behind those products and the work done before they’re put on the market? At a recent open house for editors, Bayer Environmental Science opened its doors to shed light on its research facility, how a product is brought to market, its product line and its partnership with North Carolina State University.
Research facility
Bayer’s research site in Clayton, N.C., is used for product development and support, and it’s all about developing in-house expertise, says Nick Hamon, Ph.D., director of development and technical services. Hamon says 40 to 50 percent of the facility is used for product support, and the rest is used for development.
“Training has become a dominant part of what we do,” he says. “We had more than 120 days of meetings last year.”
Bayer chose the site – which used to be a Union Carbide facility in the 1950s and, more recently, an agriculture farm – because it’s located in the transition zone where warm- and cool-season grasses can grow. In 1999, the company owned two acres. Now it owns 281 acres, more than 60 of which are used for cultivars. Eight acres are used for an ornamental nursery. Cultivars – which are used in the golf and lawn care industries – include bahiagrass, centipedegrass, St. Augustinegrass, seashore paspalum, Bermudagrass, bentgrass and tall fescue.
The site also features a nine-hole golf course, which has a full-time golf course superintendent, Gary Ryan, maintaining it. Bayer has an alliance with John Deere, which provides equipment to maintain the course. The alliance allows Deere to test its prototypes.
Coming to market
Bringing a product to market these days isn’t easy. It’s takes a lot of money (about $250 million), research and time (nine to 11 years), according to Hamon. To start with, there aren’t as many companies as there used to be who are spending money to discover new molecules. In 1990, there were 13 companies conducting research. Today, there are six, partly because the crop protection market is mature and the pesticide markets are flat, according to Hamon. The increased regulation requirements and the longer time it takes to bring a product to market are other reasons for chemical company consolidation. As part of the consolidation, FMC Corp. sold its insecticide discovery business to Bayer in June of this year. And, in general, the ag market supports specialty markets such as golf.
Currently, Bayer has 3,700 scientist devoted to research and development. This year, the company eliminated 1,500 positions worldwide so it can invest $750 million in research next year. It’s so expensive to bring a product to market because of the need for a number of research facilities to discover compounds. One million compounds go through an automated process a year, and that cost includes all the discarded compounds.
During the discovery process, at the four-year mark, the company needs to make a decision about whether to take chemistry to market. The chemistry needs to be some things but not others. For example, it needs to last long but not create residues.
“There’s a lot of risks to consider and how to apply it depending on the market,” Hamon says.
Bayer is doing more early-stage screening of active ingredients than ever before, Hamon says. In the 1950s, the company screened 5,000 compounds to find an active ingredient to market. Now, it’s screens two million compounds to find one active ingredient.
The next step is to take it to field, then other costs such as the regulatory process, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and market expansion and support.
Bayer’s challenge is to repeat these steps.
Products
Between 2006 and 2011, the company will attempt to introduce four fungicides, four herbicides and two insecticides to the market. Among those, fungicides are the most important in the golf industry. Dave Spak, Ph.D., technical development manager for fungicides, says more than half of the pesticide sales in golf are fungicides and the number one disease is dollar spot, which continues to adapt.
The company is expecting EPA registration on its new Lynx fungicide late this year. Lynx, which includes StressGuard, has anthracnose control, brown patch control and has positive PGR affects. Tebuconazole is active ingredient. Spak says there is a new formulation of ProStar (flutolanil) to come that works on fairy ring. He says the company needs a good broad spectrum control fungicide and is screening for biological fungicides.
Nate Royalty, Ph.D., product development manager for insecticides, says the company is conducting expensive and time-consuming research at three universities (17 trials) with Merit on the emerald ash borer.
“We’re hopeful the curative application is working,” he says.
Trunk injections and tree tablets (for the forestry and lawn care markets) are two ways to apply the insecticide. Royalty says Merit increases photosynthesis and chlorophyll in trees, citing a study done in the United Kingdom during the summer with 100-degree temperatures.
He also says the company will have a new fire ant bait available next year.
Bryan Gooch, business manager for insecticides, says that with Merit going off patent, the company is tracking generics and comprising a defense plan that involves support such as the tree applications. Currently, there are three generics competing with Merit and three others will come out soon. Gooch says there could be as many as eight generic competitors.
“We need to sustain the business three years after the product goes off patent,” he says. “However, the process patent for Merit on fertilizer is still there.”
Ben Cicora, business manager for herbicides any plant growth regulators, says the company will launch five new herbicides in next six years.
Richard Rees, Ph.D., manager of projects and technical information, says there’s a need to increase the focus on the plant health, which doesn’t replace focus on products. He says there are five aspects/techniques of turfgrass health: visibility ratings, canopy density, image analysis, gas exchange and noninvasive fluorescence (returned light the plant doesn’t need).
University partnership
Some chemical companies are about more than just selling products. Bayer spent $2.9 million with universities – most of that with N.C. State – this past year. It also focuses on training and education, which are part of its stewardship programs. Bayer has a good relationship with N.C. State, funding research conducted there. Rick Brandenburg, an entomologist at the university, says it’s the second highest-funded turf program in the country behind Rutgers. Brandenburg says the future of research isn’t in state and federal dollars, so the school is partnering with Bayer.
“We’re finding new insects all the time,” he says. “We’re finding white grubs in the area. Grubs are more of an issue in the South than they used to be. Effluent water is affecting the grub population – it’s increasing. We’re trying to document this. Data gaps exist because no one wants to do the work.”
Brandenburg says university researchers are looking at how to increase mediocre control with products by understanding more about insects. He says there’s still much to learn about the lifecycles of beetles.
“We are making assumptions,” he says. “We need to refine our information. We need to understand life cycles and symptoms in order to make products effective.” GCN
