Metacam® for pigs now also available as oral suspension

Ingelheim, Germany, 6 July 2010 - Boehringer Ingelheim’s market leading Animal Health medication Metacam® (active ingredient: Meloxicam) obtained EU wide marketing authorization as an oral suspension in a concentration of 15 mg/ml for use in pigs. Metacam® reduces symptoms of lameness and inflammation in animals suffering from non-infectious locomotor disorders and acts as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of puerperal septicaemia and toxaemia (Mastitis-Metritits-Agalactia syndrome, MMA).
Following the positive opinion of the CVMP, the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) scientific committee, the EU commission today announced their decision to authorize this new formulation of Metacam® for pigs.

Metacam® 15 mg/ml is a further formulation of a successful concept of inflammation control that helps restore productivity and well being in pigs. It offers an additional option to vets and farmers that increases convenience and stress reduction:

• Individual preferences or specific managerial situations can make the oral application of Metacam® more convenient.
• Situation specific welfare considerations such as in freshly farrowed sows which are particularly sensitive to stress can be another motivation to prefer the oral application over an injection.

“Metacam® 15 mg/ml oral suspension is all about choices which we try to offer to the swine producer enabling him to better adjust the administration of a needed treatment to specific conditions“, says Dr. Joachim Hasenmaier, Head of Corporate Animal Health at Boehringer Ingelheim.

Metacam® is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug of the oxicam class. Metacam® was first launched for pigs in 2003, and is now licensed in over 40 countries around the world.

Boehringer Ingelheim
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 15 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 142 affiliates in 50 countries and more than 41,500 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.

In 2009, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 12.7 billion euro while spending 21% of net sales in its largest business segment Prescription Medicines on research and development.