11th March 2010

A week ago their world collapsed, but workers facing redundancy are now looking to the future.

Staff facing the axe from drugs giant AstraZeneca are planning to set up their own firms.

Eight staff at the Loughborough research plant began a crash course on how to run a business yesterday.

They hope they will be able to set up companies and take on former colleagues.

The three-day workshop in Nottingham is aiming to give people the know-how to start up in the pharmaceutical sector.

In all, 35 people are attending the free event.

Event organiser BioCity, which specialises in helping small healthcare firms, said interest from AstraZeneca staff rose after last week's announcement that the company was to close its Loughborough site in late 2011 with the loss of 1,200 jobs.

It is thought many of the workers will look to use generous pay-offs to set up their own firms.

Nick Gostick, a manager at BioCity, said: "Originally, we only had one person from AstraZeneca. After the announcement this increased."

Gary Allenby, 47, an AstraZeneca bio-scientist who lives on the outskirts of Loughborough, said he would be reluctant to take up the company's offer of relocating to Cheshire or Sweden, so needed to find similar work closer to home.

He said: "One of the reasons I'm here is to think about spin-off possibilities from what I did at AstraZeneca.

"This is a way of finding out how successful people have been in the past, which will help decide whether it's an option for me and my colleagues."

BioCity, which has 70 firms at its site, has offered free accommodation for up to 12 months for former AstraZeneca staff setting up a business, as well as support and advice.

There have also been suggestions that a similar scheme to BioCity could be set up at the 69-acre AstraZeneca site in Loughborough.

Mr Allenby said: "I wouldn't mind commuting to Nottingham.

"But if someone was to establish something similar at AstraZeneca, that would be attractive."

Speaking about last week's devastating announcement, he said: "Everyone was shocked to the core."

Steve St-Gallay, 39, of Nottingham, who uses computers to design drugs, said: "If AstraZeneca doesn't want our skills, I'm sure somebody else will. This is why we are interested in setting up on our own.

"We don't have knowledge on the business side of things, which is why we are here."

He added: "The atmosphere at AstraZeneca is up and down. A lot of people are still reeling from the shock and there's a lot of emotion.

"But we have time to prepare. You can look at it as an opportunity."