The Value of Branded Ingredients

Bill Bookout: Dr. Morgan and Dr. Pachel, do you look for branded ingredients when you're choosing supplements. Do you think there are benefits for branded ingredients; specific ingredients from companies? Usually branded ingredients may have more research behind them. So, can you talk a little bit about branded ingredients and your perspective on that.

Dr. Chris Pachel (he/him): Yeah, I think for me, again, this is sort of a similar process. Whether I'm looking at the company level, the product level, the ingredient level. If there's a branded process that goes into that that gives me some of the understanding of what's been done, what's been studied, how it works, the reproducibility of what that process looks like, it's a similar thought process for me in that. It allows me to be a little bit more efficient in my process of sort of knowing what's in there without having to go down all of those rabbit holes. So, I would say that yes, there's a value in that at the practitioner level.

And also there's a slippery slope element for me. I [also] try to remain vigilant. It's not just: “Oh, I've worked with that company for 32 years, so therefore, no matter what they do next, is going to be fine.” There's that ongoing sort of cautious confidence that I try to bring into those conversations. And again, whether that's at the ingredient level, product, or, you know, overall company level, very similar for me.

Bill Bookout: Dr. Morgan branded ingredients. And then, Sara, do you look for branded ingredients in manufacturing?

Dr. Judy Morgan: Ditto what he said. But one of the things that we watch for, and I watch for this with the food companies as well is, did the company get sold? Because, yes, like you said, I've been working with them for 20 years. They've been great. The owner's been using the same thing for a while and suddenly we're seeing a change in the animal. What happened? And then, when you go back, and you do a little research. It's like, poo! It got sold, and the company has a period of time in which they can change the ingredients, but they get a little leeway in when they have to change the label. That's why I like really like to know the companies that I'm working with, so that I know if they got sold, or if something changed on the back end.

Bill Bookout: That's a great point, and I'll give you personal experience. With that I got a finicky cat, and I fed a particular brand of canned cat food and one day my cat wouldn't eat it. It's the same exact cat food I've fed for a long time. Cat loved it. I started doing a little research and the company was sold. They changed the ingredient deck. So, you're right. If a company gets sold, you’ve got to reverify that company from a quality standpoint.

Bill Bookout: Sara, branded ingredients.

Sara Phillips: Reverification of companies at all levels after acquisition is a really great point, and perhaps could be a webcast of its own. So, for us as a manufacturer branded ingredients play a couple of roles. Yes, branded ingredients sometimes tend to have more research which you need to do your own thorough reading and digesting and kind of assessment of. And is this, you know, this is definitely one area that we lean on our on staff Vet for; what does she think of the science? Because, you know, everyone can make a jazzy looking PDF but really being able to dig under the hood there and make sure that research is truly legitimate.

Honestly, this is a business. I wish it didn't have to be. That would be so much more fun for all of us, but it is. So, does that science and that branded ingredient carry something with it that is enough to demand a premium price, and that is a legitimate question when you're formulating for your own brand or other people's brands. What we like to see is not only the research, but perhaps there's something proprietary about the process by which that ingredient is extracted, or whether it's a botanical or an extract, or this, that, or the other thing, does it have something that's unique to it that will make my product unique. Is it more bioavailable? Does it have some other particular characteristic through its manufacturing process that lends extra value. So, branded ingredients absolutely have a place. They can certainly elevate a formulation by different ways. They can also make your brand stand out a little stronger. We see that, but as both of the doctors mentioned, you have to verify that. Because you can also put a brand on any ingredient. I think Dr. Pachel was really stressing that you do have to look a little bit behind the curtain there to make sure that it isn't just window dressing.