Boehringer Ingelheim offers funding for porcine circovirus research

Boehringer Ingelheim has supported an awards scheme that has allocated funding to researchers conducting innovative studies into porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2).

The firm sponsored the recently awarded European PCV2 Research Award for 2011, which saw nine research proposals submitted from scientists based in seven different countries, including the UK, Italy, Spain, Sweden and France.

Winners included two teams from CReSA and the Universitat Autonoma, Barcelona, which will assess the feasibility and long-term effects of large-scale vaccinations, as well as a French study of PCV2 transplacental transmission after intranasal infection.

Research into this disease is considered a priority due to the economic losses it can cause in the livestock industry.

The healthcare company said: "Boehringer Ingelheim … intends to continuously support independent applied research in the field of PCV2 immunity, pathogenesis, epidemiology and interaction with other potential pathogens."

In November 2011, the group's animal health division Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica provided support for US veterinary medicine researchers by sponsoring the first annual Equine Research Awards.