Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, June 9, 2015: Equine Osteoarthritis is one of the most common causes of lameness in horses often putting an end to their athletic career. It is caused by the shredding and tearing of the articular cartilage and other parts of the joint.

Boehringer Ingelheim, a leading pharmaceutical company, hosted an exclusive hands-on wet lab meeting at the Sharjah Equine Hospital recently, bringing together leading regional and international experts to train veterinarians from the region on the technique of intra-articular injection in the horse and the most appropriate drugs to use.

In line with the company’s believes, “prevention works, and is better than treatment”, the meeting gathered a group of 20 veterinarians from the Gulf and South Africa to discuss intra articular therapy in horses and train them on the technique. Two prominent and renowned surgeons: Morgane Schambourg (Sharjah Equine Hospital) and Russell Parker from the Liphook Equine Hospital (UK) were present to teach the vets on the techniques and drugs to be used.

Dr. Roberto Ragni-Alunni, Equine Regional Technical & Marketing Manager at Boehringer Ingelheim explained, “Following our mission to provide innovative solutions to horses’ health issues, we wanted to offer horse veterinarians with the necessary tools to give the most efficacious forms of intra articular therapy through a valuable and first-hand experience. Boehringer Ingelheim invests more than 10% every year of net sales to conduct research at the highest levels and employs a team of 3,000 experts dedicated to work on the development of new medicines and procedures to keep the animal patients healthy.”

Boehringer Ingelheim offers the broadest portfolio of horse products in the region spanning from vaccines to medicines and feed supplements including the hyaluronic acid for intra articular use with the heaviest molecular weight for a more effective treatment.

Boehringer Ingelheim

The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 146 affiliates and more than 47,700 employees. The focus of the family-owned company, founded in 1885, is researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing new medications of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.

Social responsibility is an important element of the corporate culture at Boehringer Ingelheim. This includes worldwide involvement in social projects, such as the initiative “Making more Health” and caring for the employees. Respect, equal opportunities and reconciling career and family form the foundation of the mutual cooperation. In everything it does, the company focuses on environmental protection and sustainability.

In 2014, Boehringer Ingelheim achieved net sales of about 13.3 billion euros. R&D expenditure corresponds to 19.9 per cent of its net sales.

For more information please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/mena