Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is to close its disease research arm with the loss of 1,000 UK jobs.
The research and development site based at Charnwood in Leicestershire investigates cures for a number of large disease areas.
A smaller facility in Cambridge will close, and pharmaceutical development work at the Avlon facility near Bristol will also cease.
Some of the workers will move to Alderley Park in Cheshire, AstraZeneca’s largest UK research and development site, the Times has reported.
AstraZeneca said earlier this year that it will cut 8,000 jobs around the world by 2014, including 3,500 in research and development, as part of a large-scale refocusing of the business.
Pharmaceutical companies are pulling research in certain disease areas that have existing treatments which can either cure or manage the condition effectively.
