Pfizer Animal Health affirmed its commitment to innovation in equine health with the opening of the Pfizer Animal Health Equine Research Center in Richland, Mich. The center, the culmination of a $7 million investment, expands Pfizer Animal Health’s global research and development network headquarters in Kalamazoo, Mich., and will serve as the worldwide hub for research and development of equine vaccines and novel therapeutics.

"The dedication of the Equine Research Center builds on the $75 million investment in the renovation and expansion of Pfizer’s veterinary medicine R&D headquarters in Kalamazoo completed in 2009," said Cathy Knupp, DVM, MS, vice president of veterinary medicine research and development for Pfizer Animal Health. "The center will support the work of a multi-disciplinary team of scientists committed to providing horse owners and the veterinarians who support them with truly innovative, best-in-class health solutions."

The center adds 24,000 square feet of research laboratory space as well as paddock and pasture facilities. It will serve as the U.S. equine research center of excellence for a multi-disciplinary team of scientists and specialists.

"Horses, like humans, are vulnerable to new outbreaks of prevalent illnesses such as equine influenza virus and Streptococcus equi as well as to emerging diseases such as Hendra virus," said Paul Lunn, PhD, MRCVS, Dip. ACVIM, professor and head of the Department of Clinical Sciences at Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. "The Pfizer Equine Research Center will help answer the urgent imperative for much needed innovation to help horses live longer, healthier lives