Masters Pharmaceuticals, whose core markets are central and south America and the Middle East, will use the funding to help open new markets in Asia.

In conjunction with the deal, Bill Burns, former CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, has been appointed to Masters’ board as non-executive chairman. Burns will help implement a strategy of ‘targeting acquisition and partnering opportunities’, according to Albion.

Andrew Elder, a partner at Albion Ventures, says that Masters ‘operates within a global market that is experiencing a huge increase in demand for leading US and European drugs and treatments’.

Zulf Masters, who founded the eponymous company in 1984, is investing an undisclosed sum alongside Albion.

See also: Healthcare ‘one to watch’ for UK VC investors