A SCIENCE research company in Hereford which works with some of the world's top pharmaceutical companies has been given a Queen's Award for Enterprise.

Propath in Rotherwas was given the award in recognition of its exceptional contribution to the UK’s Life Sciences sector.

The company, which started 35 years ago, has become a trusted drug development partner of many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies across the globe.

It has been at the heart of the rapidly growing and promising field of immunotherapy, which involves the use of a new class of antibody-based therapies targeted at improving clinical outcomes for patients with cancer.

Chief executive Krish Soni said: "Over the years many of these research projects have progressed through clinical trials and are now improving the lives of patients globally – which is what inspires us and what we really care about.

"We’re tremendously proud and honoured to receive this prestigious award, which is a testament to the brilliant team we have at Propath."

The assessment of antibody tissue cross-reactivity (TCR) is just one of Propath’s services that has become a key step in demonstrating the safety of novel immuno-therapeutic candidates enabling them to progress into clinical trials.

Through the expert services at Propath, pharmaceutical companies are able to efficiently evaluate the tissue specificity of potential drugs to ensure that they are suitable and safe for clinical trials before being taken onto the next stage of development.

Dr Soni added: "Propath has invested consistently over many years to support the growth of its molecular pathology research services for drug development.

"This award not only reflects our success in become the UK’s centre of excellence for TCR studies, but also one of the few centres across Europe able to perform studies of this type.

"We believe in hiring the most talented scientists, from PhD to graduate level both locally and across Europe, allowing them to also benefit from the years of experience held within our specialist team."

Propath is currently partnered with six of the world’s top ten pharmaceutical companies

As the UK prepares to leave the European Union, the government has stated the importance of the Life Science sector to the UK economy, including companies such as Propath.