A business which has developed a treatment for hard-to-treat wounds has banked £3.5 million worth of institutional capital.

BioMonde now has plans to open a US production plant, from which it will launch its American offering on the back of establishing itself in the UK, Germany and other sites in Europe.

The business uses the existing Larval Debridement Therapy (LDT) treatment, for cleaning of chronic wounds unresponsive to other techniques, and improves it by adding a patented bag delivery system. According to the business, its BioBag contains larvae in a sterile bag which ‘greatly simplifies’ wound treatment and gets rid of problems associated with loose larvae.

Investment manager Oxford Capital, which has bases in the UK, Switzerland and Hong Kong, is taking part in the funding deal alongside Finance Wales.

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Investment body Finance Wales provides capital amounts of between £1,000 and £2 million for SMEs based in Wales, and has supported BioMonde since 2005.

Gareth Kempson, CEO of BioMonde, comments, ‘This investment will enable BioMonde to drive the next phase hoof its growth and development, entry into the largest medical device market in the world.

‘The US has many of the same chronic disease challenges of any health system but on a larger scale and we want to be well positioned to provide the clinical and cost-effective response to issues presented by chronic wounds.’

Based on statistics provided by BioMonde, the company sells in excess of 35,000 treatments throughout the UK, Germany and rest of Europe and secured revenues of £5 million during the last 12 months.

Its move into the US has been made possible by approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for its BioBag.

Oxford Capital partner Colin Watts says that the investor backed BioMonde because it is a highly cash generative and fast-growing business.

‘Once the US operation is established we believe it would be an attractive acquisition for a large healthcare company,’ he adds. ‘The market has seen good levels of M&A activity in the wound care sector which we expect to continue.

Watts also cites research suggesting the chronic wound market is set to grow by 10 per cent annually as evidence of possible growth and returns.