PILL coatings firm BioProgress is moving out of March and taking over a French pharmaceutical company. The company, which employs 15 people in the town, is shifting its headquarters to the Cambridge Science Park to cut costs and be near similar businesses

PILL coatings firm BioProgress is moving out of March and taking over a French pharmaceutical company.

The company, which employs 15 people in the town, is shifting its headquarters to the Cambridge Science Park to cut costs and be near similar businesses.

"The move will decrease rental lease costs by more than 70 per cent and locate the group in an area renowned for innovation in related industries," the company said.

A package of measures announced just before Christmas, which also include a new joint venture and a fund-raising through the issue of extra shares, would change BioProgress from a loss-making to a profit-making company, said financial director Dan Farrow.

The number of staff at March has been cut from 30 to 15 in recent months as part of a restructuring, but Mr Farrow said all those remaining would be invited to move to Cambridge.

He expected that the business would grow quickly after it moved out of unsuitable current premises at the end of February.

Being in Cambridge would help the company recruit the talent it needed for the future, he added.

BioProgress, which makes pill coatings and dissolving films which can be used for breath-freshening strips or for taking drugs by mouth, said it had agreed to buy French company Dexo S.A. for 12.5million euros (£8.5m) of which 8m euros will be in cash and 4.5m in shares.

Among the attractions of the deal for BioProgress is that it will be able to apply its technology to drugs made by Dexo, a privately-owned and profitable company which specialises in treatments for gastrointestinal illnesses, Wilson's Disease, and ear, nose and throat ailments.