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Pfizer Animal Health Medicine Used to Treat Whales

Posted on: Sunday, 27 May 2007, 00:00 CDT

Responding to a request from the Marine Mammal Center, Pfizer Animal Health (PAH) has donated an antibiotic which was used today to treat the two humpback whales lost and injured in the Sacramento River.

"We hope mother and baby recover and find their way home," said Christina Dougherty, VMD, Senior Veterinarian, Pfizer Animal Health. Pfizer veterinarians have been working with veterinarians from the Marine Mammal Center for several days to determine the best medicine for the whales as well as the right dose for each patient.

Juan Ramon Alaix, Pfizer Animal Health President, added, "We are proud to be a part of this unprecedented administration of antibiotics to free-ranging whales but our donation of medicine is the easy part; the people doing the hard work are the veterinarians and marine biologists administering the medicine as well as those trying to herd the two whales back out to sea."

Dougherty said that whales and cows are not that dissimilar from an evolutionary perspective, so Pfizer Animal Health veterinarians proposed to the Marine Mammal Center's veterinarians that they use Excede, a Pfizer antibiotic approved in the United States and typically used to treat infections in cattle.

With sales of $2.3 billion in 2006, Pfizer Animal Health, a business of Pfizer Inc, is a global leader in discovering, developing and marketing medicines and vaccines for companion animals and livestock, including beef and dairy cattle and swine.

Source: Business Wire

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