UK-based drug discovery and development company Redx Pharma is planning to open a new £10.5m research and development facility at AstraZeneca's Alderley Park site in Cheshire, England.
The new venture, Redx Anti-Infectives, will create 119 high value science jobs at the site, establishing a new team to develop drugs combatting resistance to antibiotics and new medicines to tackle viral infections.
Later, 28 specialist jobs are expected to be created within the wider supply chain.
Redx Anti-Infectives began operations supported by a grant of £4.7m from the UK Government's Regional Growth Fund (RGF) at the end of April 2013.
A combination of commercial partnering revenue and shareholder equity is also funding Redx Anti-Infectives.
Redx Pharma CEO Neil Murray said that the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified drug resistance, particularly in the area of antibiotics, as one of the most pressing human health concerns globally.
Redx Pharma will work with the colleagues at AstraZeneca who made a compelling commercial case and look forward to collaboration.
AstraZeneca Research and Development vice president Clive Morris said that the company will continue to seek further opportunities to attract other innovation-driven companies and build on the existing bioscience expertise and world class facilities available at Alderley Park.
Redx develops therapeutic remedies based on existing classes of drugs, structurally modifying them to create new proprietary medicines.
