A NORTH-EAST pharmaceutical firm is working with a cancer charity on drug development.

Onyx Scientific, in Sunderland, is supporting Cancer Research UK.

The contract research and manufacturing organisation is backing the charity on development and manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients for use in clinical trials.

Onyx, which has also has bases in the US and India, helps companies develop new drug products.

Bosses say its UK labs deal with complex chemistry to deliver early stage programmes, with scale-up and technology transfer taking place in India.

Denise Bowser, Onyx’s commercial director, said: “Our team has developed an excellent partnership with Cancer Research UK and we are delighted to be working with them on such a raft of important projects.”

Dr Nigel Westwood, Cancer Research UK’s drug supply manager, added: “Over the last few years, the team at Onyx has worked proactively with us on several challenging synthetic chemistry projects and provided exceptional value for money.

“That has led to us to select them for several new projects based on the company’s competitive costs and ability to deliver on time.”