Pfizer Animal Health has opened a new Equine Research Center in Michigan USA. The center is located just a few miles away from its Veterinary Medicine Research and Development (VMRD) Headquarters in Kalamazoo, Michigan and will serve as the worldwide hub for research and development of equine vaccines and novel therapeutics.
The opening of the Equine Research Center at the Richland site builds on the $75 million investment in the renovation and expansion of Pfizer’s VMRD headquarters in Kalamazoo, which was completed in 2009. It will support the work of a multi-disciplinary team of scientists committed to providing veterinarians and horse owners with truly innovative, best-in-class health solutions.
The Center is the culmination of a $7 million investment in VMRD’s facilities and adds 24,000 square feet of research laboratory space as well as paddock and pasture facilities.
Mahesh Kumar, Executive Director, Global Biologics Research, VMRD, who will lead the vaccine development program at the site, maintains that Pfizer set the standard for first-in-class equine vaccines. “The Center and its scientific team will serve as the engine for equine research, speeding the development of the next generation of equine vaccines and therapeutics,” he said.
Ben Lacey, UK Equine Business Unit Manager at Pfizer Animal Health, continued: “To have such a specialist new facility significantly enhances the capacity of the UK Equine Business Unit and demonstrates our long term commitment towards improving equine health, worldwide.”
Pfizer Animal Health invests more in research and development – greater than $300 million annually – than any other animal health company. The veterinary medicine R&D facilities in Kalamazoo, which include the research farm in Richland, serve as US and worldwide headquarters for Pfizer Animal Health’s global R&D network of 15 sites across four continents. These include R&D centers in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Belgium, France, India, China, and Australia. Pfizer employs more than 800 veterinary R&D scientists and specialists worldwide.