Medical device company TearScience is making progress in its efforts to commercialize its technology globally.

The Morrisville company said that the Shinagawa LASIK Center has purchased the company’s dry eye treatment device, called LipiFlow, for use in its eight eye care clinics throughout Japan. The center has performed more than 1.2 million LASIK procedures.

Dr. Minoru Tomita, executive medical director at Shinagawa LASIK Center, said in a statement that TearScience’s device has been a major advance in helping the center properly assess and treat dry eye.

“This technology will play an important role in managing dry eye, a debilitating disease, while supporting the growth of our practices,” he said.

More than 200 million people worldwide suffer from dry eye, a prevalent, chronic, and progressive disease. Approximately 170 million (86 percent) suffer from evaporative dry eye (Meibomian Gland Dysfunction). TearScience estimates the market potential in North America alone to be more than $10 billion.

The successin Japan follows $70 million in new financing the company secured in February. TearScience said the funds would be used as part of a global push for its products.

TearScince disclosed the financing agreement with HealthCare Royalty Partners. The funding is not equity based but is financing based on expected growth of the company, Chief Financial Officer Nicole Wicker told WRALTechWire at the time.

With the funding, the company planned to hire additional sales people and step up marketing as it further commercializes eye-care products.

TearScience, which targets the dry-eye market, was already growing rapidly before announcing the funding. It now has more than 100 employees, having expanded sales force hiring in 2012, and Wicker said additional jobs would be created in coming months.

“We definitely are going to ramp up production and our commercial efforts,” she explained.

TearScience also plans more clinical studies.

The company’s technology was featured in an episode of the syndicated TV show “The Doctors” in May.