MORE than 80 staff at drugs company Pfizer face redundancy unless they move to America.

The Sandwich firm plans to move a large part of its veterinary medicine discovery research department to Kalamazoo in Michigan.

On Monday, 81 employees were told of the plans to relocate the department and that they will be offered the choice of a move to Kalamazoo, redundancy or apply for another role at Sandwich.

Pfizer spokesman Vanessa Davies said: "The changes will result in the transfer of veterinary medicine discovery research from Sandwich to Kalamazoo. Veterinary medicine development will remain in Sandwich.

"Staff have been told of the changes and the company hopes to retain a significant proportion in veterinary medicine discovery whose roles are at risk as a result of the changes, many of whom are highly skilled scientists.

"There will be opportunities for them within Pfizer, either at Kalamazoo or at our other global research and development sites where human health research is being consolidated, which includes Sandwich."

The company also stated that they will help their employees through the transition.

Mrs Davies added: "Pfizer is conscious of the uncertainty this creates for people and is committed to doing all it can to support them during the transition, which will take 15 months to complete."

The company currently employees 3,600 staff at their 340-acre site in Sandwich.