Lamellar Biomedical raises £3.3m for dry eye drug development

Lamellar was formed five years ago to develop new therapies for severe respiratory disease

A life sciences firm has raised £3.3m from investors to help it commercialise a drug treatment for dry eye disease.

Lamellar Biomedical raised the money from existing and new shareholders including Barwell, Scottish Enterprise and angel investors Tri Cap.

Its lead product - LMS-611 - is also aimed at radiotherapy induced xerostomia (Rix), commonly known as "dry mouth" in cancer patients.

It is also investigating its possible use in cystic fibrosis treatment.

Bellshill-based Lamellar said it was working with the Vision Sciences Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University and the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in its development programme.

Following completion of the latest investment round, Duncan Moore was elected chairman of the company.

Mr Moore is a partner at East West Capital Partners and was previously global head of healthcare equity research at Morgan Stanley.

Lamellar was founded in 2007 to develop a new class of therapies for the prevention, treatment and control of severe respiratory disease.

Funds managed by Invesco Perpetual now form the largest shareholding in the company.