Research teams at a university have been given €200,000 (£159,500) from a German pharmaceutical firm to develop two pain relief drugs.

The team at Medway Centre for Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Greenwich will make non-steroid injections with added B-vitamins in the deal with Merck Consumer Health Care.

They plan to use the drugs in Latin America, once the Medway team has made the ingredients inside the medicine stable and effective in different climates.

Their research is being continued at a manufacturing site run by Merck in Mexico, where the Greenwich injections will be produced and tested.

The Medway team will also develop a pain-relieving skin cream for the German firm.

Professor John Mitchell said: “We are delighted Merck Consumer Health Care is now one of the growing number of international companies taking advantage of the expertise and research facilities at the Medway Centre for Pharmaceutical Sciences.

“We will be looking to work with even more pharmaceuticals companies from home and abroad following the expansion of our team.”

Details at www2.gre.ac.uk/about/schools/science.