Thirty more jobs are likely to go at high-tech company Oxford Instruments, on top of 50 redundancies announced in November.

Chief executive Jonathan Flint said jobs would go in the Molecular Biotools division, which had been hit by cutbacks in pharmaceutical companies’ budgets.

Three years ago, the company based at Tubney Woods, near Abingdon, launched a new machine called HyperSense, which allows scientists to determine the structure of molecules, helping speed up discovery of drugs for diseases such as cancer.

Each HyperSense costs about £250,000 and takes about four months to make.

Three were ordered before the launch, but Mr Flint said orders had now dried up.

“Sales for that and other tools will be on hold. The instrument was very well received and there’s still huge interest, but no one is prepared to make the capital investment.”

A 30-day consultation period over the planned job losses has started and Mr Flint said the company was offering payments above the legal minimum as an incentive to employees to volunteer for redundancy.

He added: “Demand for fundamental research products is down already and, like everyone else, we are concerned about the next 12 months.”