Animal rights activists were expected to start a series of protests at the Oxford offices of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Yamanouchi today.

Pressure group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) is targeting the company, claiming it has sponsored cruelty against animals at animal testing group Huntingdon Life Science (HLS), which they are trying to put out of business.

Yamanouchi, which is based at the former Littlemore Hospital in Sandford Road, Oxford, is known to have used HLS several years ago, to carry out experiments on dogs to test a drug to treat osteoporosis in humans.

Actress Kim Bassinger stepped in at the time, offered to adopt the 36 beagle puppies that faced having their legs broken to test the drug. Yamanouchi later decided to halt the experiments. A spokesman for SHAC said Yamanouchi had not confirmed that it was not still using HLS, so ithas been assumed that it was.

Yamanouchi is planning to invest millions in Britain over the next five years. Its Oxford office was set up in 1990 and, along with a site in Surrey, employs 250 people.

The Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry said violent anti-vivisection protests could deter Japanese firms from investing.