A Dundee drug-testing clinic is to close at the end of this month because of difficult trading conditions in the global market for the development of medicines but it was unclear how many of its 24 employees will be made redundant.
Chiltern (Early Phase) Ltd announced in March that it was entering a consultation process with staff into the proposed closure of its unit at Ninewells Hospital the last commercial facility of its kind in Scotland.
Chiltern manager Barry Silverstein said, “We have been through the consultation period with all staff and unfortunately no alternative was found. The unit will be closing at the end of June.”
Mr Silverstein said some staff have already found alternative employment and the company is trying to keep as many staff as possible within Chiltern.
Chiltern has an office in Edinburgh and staff in field work around the country, and he said the firm was therefore unable at present to confirm the number of staff who will be made redundant.
The Ninewells unit began life as Drug Development Scotland Ltd nearly 30 years ago as a commercial spin-out from Dundee University under Professor Ian Stevenson.
It enjoyed considerable success in its early years conducting clinical trials of new drugs on healthy volunteers.
Drug companies from around the world sent their new medicines for trials to Dundee, impressed by the quality of the clinic’s work and its close links to Dundee University and Ninewells Hospital.
The company changed its name to DDS Medicines Research and moved into a 42-bed unit attached to Ninewells, having previously leased unused wards at the hospital.
After another name change, to Drug Development Solutions, the company ran into trouble and went into liquidation, owing about £1.3 million to creditors.
Chiltern took over in February 2008 with a workforce of about 40 but at the end of the following year it had to shed a third of its Dundee staff as trading conditions grew more difficult.
The climate has not improved for first phase drug trials, the primary stage of new medicines being tested on humans a process that can take more than a decade before drugs can gain a commercial licence.
Mr Silverstein said in April the market for first phase trials was difficult because of competition globally for the type of work.
“There is intense competition from countries around the world with lower costs than in the UK and the global industry is not investing in the research and development of new medicines as much as it used to.
“This has created a lot more pressure on companies involved in trials and has led to our proposal to close our facility in Dundee.”
Mr Silverstein said the Dundee situation did not affect the future of Chiltern at large a company that employs nearly 1400 staff globally.
An illustration of the challenging conditions facing the pharmaceutical industry was seen in February when US firm Pfizer announced it was closing its research centre at Sandwich in Kent the European hub of its research and development activities with the loss of 2000 jobs.
Ninewells site manager Brian Main said no decisions had been taken about future use of the premises being vacated by Chiltern.
The two-storey building is part of the NHS estate but could be made available to Dundee University which has a large presence on the Ninewells site, where research space is at a premium.
“We are not in discussions yet about what is going to happen to the building but it will be subject to all different sorts of ideas about what it could be used for,” said Mr Main.