UP TO 30 scientists are being recruited by German drug discovery company Evotec after it closed its operations in India and moved them back to its labs at Milton Park, near Didcot.

The company’s 120 employees in India are losing their jobs, but chief operating officer Mario Polywka said more than half had already found new ones.

And he said an influx of young graduates had enlivened the Milton Park workforce.

“It’s very positive to see new people, because we have been a bit flat over the past few years, so to bring in 20 to 30 people has created a bit of an atmosphere.”

He said the Indian venture to supply low-cost ‘libraries’ of possible new drugs to the pharmaceutical industry had been successful, but the landlord wanted to redevelop the laboratory site, and it had proved hard to find new premises.

He added: “We also noticed that pharmaceutical companies we work with wanted us to do all our work from our UK base.”

Mr Polywka said the Milton Park workforce had grown from 220 to 240, with another five to ten still being sought.

Evotec reported a net loss of 4.5m euros (£3.9m) for the first half of 2013, reflecting lower revenues and higher expenses.

Mr Polywka said: “We earn a lot of income from milestone payments as we reach research targets. Our scientific results can be positive or negative, and in the first half-year payments were down.

“Core business revenue is up six per cent. The market understands that we just have to keep focused.”

The company confirmed that it expects the revenue outlook for the year to grow by about £8m.

It earns most of its revenue from drug companies, for whom it finds possible treatments for diseases including cancer, diabetes and bacterial infections.