Fears are growing that jobs could be cut at a drugs and chemicals research centre near Bristol.

Multi-national firm Astra Zeneca announced yesterday that it is cutting 7,300 jobs across its workforce.

The company has one of its largest UK centres at its Avlon factory close to Avonmouth – where around 300 people work.

Unions yesterday confirmed they were talking with bosses at the drugs company to try and establish where the axe would fall.

The factory in Avonmouth is the main centre for manufacturing the ingredients for the firms two biggest brands – Crestor, which is used to lower cholesterol levels, and Seroquel, which is used for treating people suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Facilities at the site include manufacturing plants, quality control laboratories, warehousing, support services and a staff training centre.

Astra Zeneca is the UK's second biggest drugs maker, and the firm employs 61,000 staff across the world. The company has said it is too early to say how many of its 8,000 staff in the UK would be affected.

The firm has already axed 21,600 staff since 2007 as part of two previous cost cutting drives, which included the closure of a site at Charnwood near Loughborough last year.

Unions have claimed that at least 250 to 300 of the latest round of cuts will be in research and development at the firm's site in Alderley Park, near Manchester, while there would be further back office cuts at other UK sites.

Other sites in the UK include Macclesfield in Cheshire, Cambridge, Luton, Paddington in London, and Brixham in Devon.

Allan Black GMB National Officer said: "This is very bad news for the UK economy. These cutting edge research and development jobs are both well paid and essential for a thriving UK economy."

The latest round of cuts comes a year after Astra Zeneca's main rival Pfizer said it would pull the plug on its plant in Sandwich, Kent, which employed 2,400 staff.

The pharmaceuticals industry has come under growing pressure in recent years because the major players have struggled to invent new drugs. At the same time patents on existing best sellers have expired, leaving them open to cheap competition.