Abingworth life sciences venture capital group appoints Michelle Doig

London, UK, 17th February 2003 - Abingworth Management, the life sciences venture capital group, has appointed Michelle Doig to advise Abingworth on funding and re-financing its portfolio companies. She is based at the company's headquarters in London, UK. 

Ms Doig was formerly Director, Corporate Finance and Advisory, at Bioscience Managers Ltd where she advised UK and European life science companies on Strategic, M&A and financial transactions. Prior to joining BML, Ms Doig worked with UK and European life sciences companies at Lehman Brothers International, London. Previously Ms Doig was part of the JP Morgan H&Q Biotechnology Team in New York and the Morgan Stanley Health Care Team in Toronto and New York. 

Ms Doig has executed over 20 equity and convertible equity transactions for clients such as: Gilead Sciences, Centocor, MedImmune, Sepracor, Gene Logic, Medarex and Vertex as well as the IPOs of CuraGen, BioReliance, Illumina, InSpire, TKT and Transgenomic. In addition, she has advised on private placements for Lorantis, Dusa Pharmaceuticals, Myogen and Targeted Genetics and completed M&A transactions for LeukoSite/Cytomed, Medco Research/King Pharmaceuticals, and Summit Autonomous/Alcon.

Ms Doig has a BA with Honours in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario.

"The process of re-financing companies is a highly specialised part of the venture investment business," said Dr Stephen Bunting, Managing Director at Abingworth. "We think Michelle has an excellent understanding of this area, knows all the key players on both sides of the Atlantic and will improve Abingworth's efficiency in completing and closing financings."

Notes for Editors

Abingworth was founded in 1973 and is a key player among life science venture capital investors with offices in London, Cambridge (UK) and Palo Alto. Specialising in unquoted life science and biomedical companies, Abingworth now has funds under management of over $700 million and 22 staff including experienced professionals with operational and venture capital expertise. The company has backed more than 80 life science/medical firms, most of which have gone public or been acquired. 

Abingworth is a strongly science driven investment organisation that is prepared to take on substantial technical risk. The management team has many years of operating experience and can actively assist scientific entrepreneurs in the development of their ideas into successful companies. Abingworth has extensive resources to assist portfolio companies at any stage of development and take them beyond the IPO stage.

For further information contact:

Dr Stephen Bunting
Managing Director
Abingworth Management
Tel: +44 (0)20 7534 1500
E-mail: bunting@abingworth.co.uk 
http://www.abingworth.co.uk 

Abingworth Management
38 Jermyn Street 
London 
SW1Y 6DN 
Tel 020 7534 1500 
Fax 020 7287 0480