A US biotech company which has announced 15 per cent cut in its workforce said its business in Oxfordshire will escape the axe.

Barbara Lindheim, of Orchid BioSciences, which took over Abingdon-based Cellmark Diagnostics last year, said: "Things are going extremely well at the Abingdon site. If anything, we will be adding staff."

The loss-making company said the 90 redundancies in the US would reduce costs and accelerate profitability into late 2003. Manufacturing and production will transfer to Dayton, Ohio, and Stamford, Connecticut. The Abingdon business, Orchid BioSciences Europe, supplies DNA tests for paternity cases and forensic investigations to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural and academic customers.

Ms Lindheim said staff cuts were essential for long-term company growth.