Acambis, a UK biotech company, is to close its research operation in Cambridge, UK, with the loss of around 40 jobs.

Acambis, a UK biotech company, is to close its research operation in Cambridge, UK, with the loss of around 40 jobs. The company now intends to carry out all of its research at its facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The UK site will still remain open for clinical and regulatory functions as well as for sales, marketing and business development.

A spokesperson for Acambis told Chemistry World that the process will not result in any cost savings because ’any money no longer being spent in the UK will be ploughed back into research in the US’. The company has no intention of relocating any of the UK research staff to the US.

Acambis has reviewed all of its research programmes and has decided to halt development of vaccines for travellers’ diarrhoea, typhoid and H pylori, a bacterium responsible for stomach ulcers. The company does not believe that these programmes would generate ’the required return on investment’.

High priority areas for Acambis include its smallpox vaccine franchise, a West Nile vaccine, and some of its travel vaccines.

Emma Davies