Laboratory testing firm Eurofins has confirmed it will close its Dundee office later this year and transfer its drug discovery function to France.
The majority of the 28 staff who work at the firm’s site at Dundee Technology Park will be made redundant at the end of March.
Four members of the team have decided to transfer to Eurofins’ facility in Poitiers and a skeleton staff of five will remain working in Dundee until the end of August.
The news follows a consultation exercise which was carried out last year.
Dundee site director Steve Davies said: “It’s been a difficult time. We are in the transfer and close down phase at the moment.
“Staff here are working with their French colleagues on the transfer, which is quite complex.
“Most people will be made redundant at the end of March with five people remaining until August to tie up loose ends and act as a troubleshooting team for France.
“Eurofins have said it’s a strategic decision. We are a small office which is quite specialised.
“The site in France is much larger, with a Centre of Excellence, and does work similar to ours.”
Mr Davies’ said he did not believe that Brexit had influenced the decision.
Eurofins is an international group of laboratories headquartered in Brussels and is valued at around €6.6 billion.
The history of the Dundee laboratory stretches back to 1999 when it was set up by US company Argonex and was initially branded Upstate. It was acquired by the current owners in 2014.
The Dundee lab specialises in testing compounds for pharma companies, giving them an indication of whether the drugs being developed will be successful at the clinical testing stage.
Mr Davies, who joined Upstate in 2000, said: “During the consultation process every member of staff was offered a job in the new location.
“Clearly that’s a big step but it looks like four of the existing staff are taking up that offer and are really excited about it.
“We work on a short turnaround time, typically a weekly cycle. We are going to run as normal until the very end.
“When France is set up and ready to go we will stop.”
He added: “The team here are behaving extremely professionally.
“There is still a pride in what they do and they want to do a good job right to the end.”
Eurofins previously said closing the Dundee office would put the global firm in a “stronger position to continue to support the high quality and timely services that our customers rely upon and which has been conducted at the Dundee site for more than a decade”.
rmclaren@thecourier.co.uk