LONDON, ENGLAND, Avillion LLP, which focuses on clinical co-development of therapeutics, today announced that it has received initial funding from Abingworth LLP and Clarus Ventures.

Avillion, based in London, UK, is partnering with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to co-developand finance latestage therapeutics. The company will use its clinical development and regulatory expertise to obtain global approvalsfor a broad range of drugs and biologics.

Lewis Cameron, theCEO of Avillion, commented: "Avillion offers pharma and biotech companies a compelling option to partner late stage drug approval projects globally. We have an experienced team focused on global drug development and approval, with the capability to optimise CRO management."

The management team is led by Lewis Cameron (CEO), who has held senior executive positions in CRO companies,including Chiltern International, Clearstone and LabCorp. Dr Allison Jeynes-Ellis (CMO) has over 20 years experience running clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies,including Wyeth and BMS, and has been extensively involved in health technology appraisals across various countries. Graham Higson (VP, Regulatory) has three decades of regulatory experience, including 5 years as the global head of regulatory affairs at AstraZeneca. John Bradshaw (CFO) provides financial services to life sciences companies and has extensive experience in dealing with complex accounting and finance issues relevant to the pharmaceutical industry.

Genghis Lloyd-Harris, a partner at Abingworth, said: "We founded Avillion and incubated the company in our London office. The Avillion team has exceptionally broad and deep experience in CRO management, drug development and regulatory approval. Avillion provides an excellent choice for co-developing phase III drugs and biologics in the US and Europe."

Notes for Editors

About Abingworth

Abingworth is an international investment group dedicated exclusively to the life sciences and healthcare sector. The company invests at all stages of development including early and late-stage venture financing, growth equity and public companies.

Founded in 1973, Abingworth has a lengthy track record of backing market leading companies. Abingworth has a specialist team of 19 professionals with a broad range of skill sets and access to an extensive network of industry contacts. Abingworth has funds under management of over $1.25 billion and offices in London, Menlo Park (California) and Boston.

About Clarus

Clarus Ventures is a life sciences venture capital firm founded by a team of accomplished investment and operating professionals. The investment team has extensive and broad backgrounds in research and development, commercialization, business development and operations management, which enabled Clarus to establish a long history of success in creating value across multiple disciplines within the healthcare-investing universe. The deep domain expertise of the Clarus team allows us to employ a hands-on philosophy of providing value enhanced leadership and guidance in working with our management teams in both the biopharmaceutical and medical device arenas. Clarus is presently managing $1.2 billion. The firm invests globally out of its offices in Cambridge, MA and South San Francisco, CA.

Contacts
Lewis Cameron, CEO
Tel: +44(0)207470-2458