A BIOTECH company welcomed Economy Minister Edwina Hart to launch its new Abertillery base today as part of a £2 million expansion.

Neem Biotech, which hopes to soon launch the first clinical trial for its cystic fibrosis drug, is expected to more than triple its workforce over the next 18 months.

Speaking at the launch today, Edwina Hart said it is “really important” to recognise the local area could provide the people the company are looking to recruit.

The Singoporean-owned company opened the 15,000 square foot facility at Roseheyworth Business Park thanks to a £225,000 investment from the Welsh Government. The money will help create 17 new highly skilled jobs, taking the workforce from eight to 25.

Managing Director of Neem Biotech, Michael Graz, said Wales has an “eco system of life sciences”, one of the reasons why the company chose to move to Abertillery.

The research company was formerly based in St Mellons, Cardiff, and specialises in extracting bioactive compounds in plants for health applications.

It started small in 1998 as a research organisation but was later taken over by investment company Zaluvida.

One drug the company developed, which involves extracting a compound from garlic, is used to treat lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. If it passes the toxicological tests, the first clinical trial will go ahead.

Edwina Hart said: “Life sciences is a key part of the economy in Wales and one of the key sectors we want to continue developing.

“It’s important to recognise in Wales the way life sciences do start up, they are very small companies.

“As a government we are very supportive and particularly delighted to come here.

“The fact you are located in this area is also important. We have to ensure that when we do have economy regeneration it is not all in the coastal builds and on the M4, but that they are in the Valleys.”

The company also uses natural compounds from plant extraction to develop technologies used to fight threats including antibiotic resistance, metabolic disease syndrome and other rare diseases. Particular areas of interest also include fatty liver disease and wound healing.

Abertillery is no stranger to biochemistry after Professor Tecwyn Williams, viewed by many as the founding father of drug metabolism, was born in the town and grew up there at the turn of the 20th century.