Following yesterday's announcement that the R&D facility at Alderley Park will close, AstraZeneca has confirmed that there will be approximately 550 redundancies at the site over the next three years.
This is in addition to the 1600 research and development jobs which will be relocated from Alderley Park by 2016. The significant majority of which will go to a new £300m global R&D centre and headquarters which AstraZeneca is creating in Cambridge.
As a result of the restructuring around 700 non R&D are expected to remain at Alderley Park, the pharmaceutical company currently employs 2,900 employees at the site.
This very disappointing news comes only five months after AstraZeneca secured a £5 million grant from the Regional Growth Fund to enable them to explore the development of a BioScience park at Alderley Park.
Speaking in October, Martin Mackay, President of R&D at AstraZeneca, said "Alderley Park is a site of critical importance to our global R&D organisation. By combining our capabilities with those of our partners and other enterprises, we aim to create a hub of scientific innovation with the potential to discover the medicines that people will need in years to come."
In January, Cheshire East Council announced they are looking to invest in a joint venture with AstraZeneca and the Cabinet agreed to allocate £1m funding, in the form of a repayable loan to the not-for-profit joint venture company, to establish and operate a BioScience Incubator centre to nurture and attract innovative biomedical enterprises. The Council said the new BioScience Park is expected to create 440 jobs.
A spokesperson for Astrazeneca said today "The application for a grant from the Regional Growth Fund is on hold. The business case has obviously changed from when we first put the application for a grant in but we can expect this to be one of the things the taskforce will look at."
The Government has announced it will set up a regional taskforce in the North West of England to ensure a sustainable and thriving future for Alderley Park.
David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science said "Clearly the decision to reduce R&D activity at Alderley Park is disappointing. But the government will work closely with AstraZeneca and local partners to ensure this excellent facility has a prosperous future with new opportunities for the site.
"I have agreed with AstraZeneca and local leaders that a taskforce will be established to coordinate work to support Alderley Park staff and the local economy during the transition. This will work to ensure a sustainable, thriving future for the site. The Taskforce will be jointly led by Chris Brinsmead, the Government's Life Sciences Champion, and Clive Morris, a Vice President of AstraZeneca, alongside local partners."
Pascal Soriot, Chief Executive Officer of AstraZeneca said: "AstraZeneca remains strongly committed to the North West of England. We are keen to work with central and local government, as well as the business community in the region, to ensure that all practical solutions for the future of Alderley Park are considered in order to support the local economy over the long term.
"In particular, I welcome the establishment by the Government of a regional taskforce which we will co-chair. I pledge AstraZeneca's full support for the taskforce to ensure that all practical solutions for safeguarding a healthy local economy over the long-term are explored."
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