Three of the UK's biggest pharmaceutical companies have set up a joint funding programme to promote animal-based research into new drugs, defying escalating terror tactics of animal extremists.

AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer have teamed up with the British Pharmacological Society to provide £1 million a year for the next four years to support UK university work on pharmacology, physiology and toxicology.

The fund aims to maintain high quality in vivo research to support the discovery of new medicines and comes just days after the latest victory for the extremists, construction company Montpellier withdrawing from the project to build a new research centre in Oxford.

The collaborators are concerned that the long-running campaign against the sector will scare off talented scientists and doctors, undermining the UK science base in which the companies continue to invest heavily.

Announcing the new collaboration, minister for science Lord Sainsbury said: "Developing and fostering new skills in pharmacology, physiology and toxicology is essential for the UK science base. The partnerships between GSK, AstraZeneca and Pfizer and the British Pharmacological Society will provide valuable additional research funding which will help to maintain our current position of cutting edge excellence in this area," he said.

The companies say grants will be made to academic institutions with the greatest expertise in basic animal research and who also demonstrate the highest standards of animal welfare.

The government is expected to announce on Friday a new strategy to stop the campaigners who terrorise research companies, firms working for them and their families.

The awards will be administered by the British Pharmacological Society and are open to pharmacologists, physiologists and toxicologists. Further details of the awards are available from the British Pharmacological Society, 16 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2SG.

pharmafocus@pharmafile.co.uk