9th March 2010

The closure of a major pharmaceutical research facility in the East Midlands must be seen as an opportunity, an industry expert from Nottingham says.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced last week it was closing its famed Charnwood Research and Development facility at Loughborough next year, with the loss of 1,200 jobs.

The closure is a huge blow both to the town and to the region's bio-pharma industries, with the loss of a major business which employs highly-qualified and well-paid staff.

But Glenn Crocker, chief executive of the Nottingham bioscience incubator BioCity, says past experience suggests the closure also presents an opportunity to put skilled people and a unique facility to productive use.

"I don't for one moment want to under-estimate the impact this has had on both the town and its people, but we have to stay positive," he told Business Post.

"What would be an absolute tragedy is if the East Midlands simply lost all these skills or if the site – which is probably the best of its kind in Europe – was bulldozed and turned over to housing."

Dr Crocker says the pressure on major pharmaceutical companies to cut costs means the Charnwood R&D closure was not a complete surprise.

"What has happened at AstraZeneca isn't unusual, if anything it's happened a little later there than in some other companies."

Dr Crocker says all major pharmaceutical companies are outsourcing increasing amounts of work to small firms – even to the point of 'licensing in' the discovery of new drugs rather than doing their own in-house research.

While the closures of large-scale industrial facilities are seen as devastating, past experience in the pharmaceutical industry suggests it can also throw up new opportunities in knowledge-intensive sectors.

When Pharmacia closed a major facility in Sweden's Medicon Valley, it spawned a major expansion of entrepreneurial work as skilled people who left the firm went on to set up their own businesses.

Dr Crocker believes the skills at Charnwood R&D – and perhaps even the facilities – could be used to similar effect.

"The implications for a place like BioCity could be quite positive because there are people skilled in management, research and working in a commercial environment coming on to the market.

"There is a large number of PhDs there with research skills, but also people who are skilled in taking pharmaceutical products through clinical development and on to the market. If they were to come and join companies here at BioCity it would probably improve them.

"These are really important management skills that small pharmaceutical companies usually can't get access to. If we don't capture those skills it is a lost opportunity."

The East Midlands Development Agency is coordinating a response to the AstraZeneca announcement, but Dr Crocker immediately offered workspace for staff who want to set up on their own.

A number of employees have already been in touch with BioCity.

Dr Crocker says it is also crucial that the AstraZeneca facility is not lost to an alternative use once the firm moves out.

He said: "These are some of the best research facilities in the country, possibly in Europe. We would certainly be interested in taking a look at these facilities, but it is very early days yet.

"We can't stop this closure happening. So we have to turn it round, save as many jobs as we can, and make the most of the opportunity."