Mereo BioPharma Group plc Appointment of Chief Financial Officer (4374O)

TIDMMPH

RNS Number : 4374O

Mereo BioPharma Group plc

07 November 2016

Mereo BioPharma Group plc

("Mereo" or the "Company" or the "Group")

Appointment of Chief Financial Officer

London, 7 November 2016 - Mereo BioPharma Group plc (AIM: MPH), a clinical stage, UK-based, biopharmaceutical company focused on rare and specialty diseases, today announces that Richard CM Jones has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Company and will join the Board of Directors in early 2017.

Richard joins Mereo from Shield Therapeutics plc (AIM: STX) where he has been Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary. He was initially appointed as a Non-Executive Director at Shield in 2010 before moving to his current position in 2011 where he had a leading role establishing the finance operations and guiding Shield through its recent IPO. Prior to this, Richard had a career in investment banking, holding senior positions at Investec and Brewin Dolphin Securities, where he advised healthcare clients on a wide range of transactions and fundraisings including IPOs, M&A and fundraisings. Richard qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC in 1991.

Richard Bungay, the Company's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer has resigned from the Board of Directors and as previously indicated will leave the Company in April 2017 in order to ensure an orderly transition.

Dr Denise Scots-Knight, Chief Executive Officer of Mereo BioPharma Group plc commented:

"I am delighted to announce the appointment of Richard Jones as our Chief Financial Officer and to the Board of Directors. His extensive financial experience in the healthcare industry, initially as an investment banker in the sector and more recently as CFO of Shield Therapeutics, complements that of the other members of Mereo's executive team. Following our positive debut as a listed company, the Board is confident that Richard will make a valuable and significant contribution to Mereo's future success. "

The following information is disclosed pursuant to Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies. Richard Crispin Morgan Jones, aged 50 years, has been a director of the following companies during the five years preceding the date of this announcement:

 
 Current directorships            Past Directorships 
 Shield Therapeutics plc          Krysto Pharma Ltd 
  Shield Holdings AG               Wolverleigh Consulting 
  Iron Therapeutics Switzerland    Ltd 
  AG 
  Shield TX (UK) Limited 
  Phosphate Therapeutics 
  Limited 
 

Save as set out above there are no further disclosures pursuant to Rule 17 or Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Mr Jones has no beneficial interest in the ordinary shares of the Company.

For Further Enquiries:

 
 Mereo BioPharma Group 
  plc                          [phone] 
 Denise Scots-Knight, Chief 
  Executive Officer 
 
 Nominated Adviser and 
  Joint Broker 
  Cantor Fitzgerald Europe     [phone] 
 Phil Davies 
 Will Goode 
 
 Joint Broker 
  RBC Capital Markets          [phone] 
 Rupert Walford 
 
 Public Relations Adviser 
  to Mereo Biopharma 
  FTI Consulting               [phone] 
 Ben Atwell 
 Simon Conway 
 Brett Pollard 
 

About Mereo

Mereo is a UK-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative medicines that aim to address unmet medical needs in rare and specialty disease areas and improve patient quality of life. The Company seeks to selectively acquire development-stage product candidates with demonstrated clinically meaningful data from large pharmaceutical companies and to rapidly progress these product candidates to subsequent value inflection points.

Mereo combines the operational discipline and efficiency of a small company with the financial resources to conduct comprehensive clinical studies. The Company has the option to directly commercialise products, for example in orphan diseases, in addition to partnering or divesting its products.

Mereo's initial portfolio consists of three mid-late stage clinical assets that were acquired from Novartis in July 2015. BPS-804 is being developed for the prevention of fractures resulting from osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease); acumapimod (BCT-197), is being developed to treat inflammation in patients with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and BGS-649 is a once-weekly pill to restore normal testosterone levels in men with hypogonadal hypogonadism.

In H1 2016 the Company initiated a Phase 2 study with acumapimod and a Phase 2b study with BGS-649. Mereo submitted its proposed Phase 2b/3 pivotal study design package for BPS-804 to the regulator in H1 2016 and expects to commence the trial during H1 2017, pending feedback from the regulator. Additional product opportunities, from a range of large pharmaceutical companies, are under active evaluation.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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November 07, 2016 02:10 ET (07:10 GMT)