ICON Forms Partnership with Mereo BioPharma for Clinical Development

Dublin, Ireland, 30 July, 2015 – ICON plc, (NASDAQ: ICLR) a global provider of drug development solutions and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced a partnership with Mereo BioPharma Group Ltd, a recently-formed speciality biopharmaceutical company. Under the partnership, ICON will be the sole provider of clinical development services to Mereo.       .......

Mereo is a new UK company that is focused on acquiring, rapidly developing and commercialising innovative medicines that are targeted at rare and specialist disease areas. The company’s initial portfolio consists of clinical-stage products acquired from Novartis and are targeted at brittle bone syndrome, acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.

Commenting on the partnership, Ciaran Murray, CEO, ICON plc, said: “We are delighted to have been selected as Mereo’s clinical development partner. It is a further endorsement of ICON’s expertise in operating under partnership models which leverage our deep industry expertise, operational excellence and differentiated technology solutions. We look forward to helping Mereo accelerate the development of their pipeline and bring to market drugs that will enhance the quality of patients’ lives.”

Mereo BioPharma’s CEO, Dr Denise Scots-Knight, commented: “Our partnership with ICON provides us with a dedicated and experienced global team that is already working closely with Mereo.  The relationship is designed not only to help us conduct global clinical studies as we develop our product portfolio, but also to leverage ICON’s broader consulting expertise. We look forward to a fruitful alliance, progressing our pipeline in the clinic and ultimately delivering new valuable medicines to patients.”