Boehringer Ingelheim provides new funding for PCV2 research

Boehringer Ingelheim has highlighted the efforts it has made to provide funding support for research into porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) infections and associated diseases since 2007.

The company's animal health division has allocated 425,000 euros (363.72 million pounds) to finance 17 research projects in the last half-decade, with the 2012 European PCV2 research awards recently presented to successful investigators by Professor Maurice Pensaert, the head of its review board.

In the sixth round of its funding scheme, money was handed to researchers investigating the effect of maternal-derived immunity on PCV2 infection dynamics and production parameters in PCV2-vaccinated pigs, as well as the role of the amino acids 169 and 173 of the PCV capsid protein in determining virulence.

Boehringer Ingelheim said: "In the past five years, 50 research projects were submitted to the European PCV2 research award, demonstrating the continuous interest and need for applied PCV2 research."

Last month, the company revealed that its Ingelvac CircoFLEX vaccine for porcine circovirus disease has now been used in one billion pigs worldwide.