Mereo BioPharma Group plc Mereo BioPharma Appoints Wills Hughes-Wilson (8347F)

TIDMMPH

RNS Number : 8347F

Mereo BioPharma Group plc

26 February 2018

Mereo BioPharma Group plc

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

Mereo BioPharma Appoints Wills Hughes-Wilson as Head of Patient Access and Commercial Planning

London, 26 February 2018 - Mereo BioPharma Group plc (AIM: MPH), a multi-asset biopharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics that aim to improve outcomes for patients with rare and specialty diseases, today announced the appointment of Wills Hughes-Wilson as Head of Patient Access and Commercial Planning. In her role, Ms. Hughes-Wilson will be responsible for leading and optimizing Mereo's patient access and commercialization strategies, initially in a part-time role as the Company builds out its rare disease commercial infrastructure.

Dr. Denise Scots-Knight, Chief Executive Officer of Mereo BioPharma commented "Ms. Hughes-Wilson brings in-depth market access and product launch expertise as well as a proven ability to develop and lead commercial planning efforts globally. With extensive experience in the rare and orphan disease areas, Ms. Hughes-Wilson will be instrumental as we advance our portfolio of rare product candidates through late-stage clinical development and towards commercialization. We are very pleased to welcome her and believe she will be a strong complement to our existing leadership team at Mereo."

Most recently, Ms. Hughes-Wilson served on the Executive Leadership Team as Chief Patient Access Officer and Senior Vice President Access & External Affairs at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi), an international specialty healthcare company dedicated to rare diseases. In her role, Ms. Hughes-Wilson was responsible for Sobi's go-to-market commercialization approach and led the pricing, reimbursement and access teams for Sobi's rare disease product portfolio. Prior to joining Sobi, Ms. Hughes-Wilson served as Vice President of Health and Market Access Policy at Genzyme Corporation (now part of Sanofi).

"I am thrilled to join Mereo's leadership team at such a pivotal time for the Company," Ms. Hughes-Wilson stated. "Mereo's robust portfolio of product candidates, including BPS-804 for the treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta and AZD-9668 for the treatment of severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, has the potential to address significant unmet medical needs in rare diseases. I look forward to applying my experience to help the Company continue its journey to develop these therapies and, if approved, make them commercially available to patients and healthcare systems in a timely and sustainable manner."

About Mereo

Mereo is a multi-asset biopharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics that aim to improve outcomes for patients with rare and specialty diseases. The portfolio consists of four clinical-stage product candidates, each of which were acquired from large pharmaceutical companies: BPS-804 for the treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta; AZD-9668 for the treatment of severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BCT-197 for the treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or AECOPD; and BGS-649 for the treatment of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in obese men. Each of the Company's product candidates has generated positive clinical data for Mereo's target indication or in a related indication. The Company's strategy is to selectively acquire product candidates that have already received significant investment from pharmaceutical companies and that have substantial preclinical, clinical and manufacturing data packages. Since inception the Company has commenced large, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trials for three of the product candidates and announced positive top-line results from its Phase 2 clinical trial of BCT-197 as an acute therapy for patients with AECOPD in December 2017. The Company intends to commence additional late-stage clinical trials in 2018.

For Further Enquiries:

 
                                           [phone] 
 Mereo BioPharma Group plc                           7318 
 Denise Scots-Knight, Chief Executive 
  Officer 
 Richard Jones, Chief Financial Officer 
 
 Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker         [phone] 
  Cantor Fitzgerald Europe                           7000 
 Phil Davies 
 Will Goode 
 
 Joint Broker                              [phone] 
  RBC Capital Markets                                4000 
 Rupert Walford 
 Laura White 
 
 EU Public Relations Adviser to Mereo      [phone] 
  FTI Consulting                                     1000 
 Ben Atwell 
 Simon Conway 
 Brett Pollard 
 
 US Public Relations Advisor to Mereo         +01 (0) 212 
  Burns McClellan                                213 0006 
 Lisa Burns 
 Steven Klass 
 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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February 26, 2018 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)