East Midlands MEP Nick Clegg took time out from European affairs yesterday to see how staff at a hi-tech Leicestershire company are helping defeat diseases across the world.

Mr Clegg was visiting AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood where cures and treatments for respiratory and inflammatory diseases like asthma and rheumatoid arthritis first see the light of day.

He toured the company's £45 million pharmaceutical development facility, which opened early last year, and met some of the 1200 staff who work on the site.

Mr Clegg, who is a senior adviser to the vice-president of European Commission and has special responsibility for EU policy towards China and the Far East, said: "The pharmaceutical industry is an important sector both for the UK economy and for East Midlands jobs. There are also a large number of European legislative issues which directly affect the UK pharmaceutical industry, ranging from medicinal patents to consumer rights.

"I was very grateful to have the opportunity to discuss these matters in detail with AstraZeneca and to see for myself the prominent role which the industry plays in our local economy."

Site general manager, Simon Proffitt, who hosted Mr Clegg's visit, was delighted to have the opportunity of explaining the cutting-edge work carried out at Charnwood to somebody representing the local community and the European Commission.

He said: "The major investments AstraZeneca has made here have massive benefits for the Midlands economy and for the global treatment of diseases for which cures are desperately needed. "

"It was a pleasure to be able to demonstrate first hand just what the company and its staff are doing to meet the needs of the medical profession and their patients."

The impressive £45 million pharmaceutical development facility is just one of a series of major investments which have led to 500 new jobs since Charnwood was formed in 1995 following the takeover of its parent company, Fisons, by Astra AB of Sweden.

New £30 million Process R&D laboratories were opened in the second half of 2001, a £2 million investment saw the completion of a clinical pharmacology unit at Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, in 1999 and a £3 million contribution was made to the university's post-graduate centre.

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