Mereo Biopharma enters new $5m convertible equity Financing

Mereo BioPharma Group Plc engages in the acquisition, development, and commercialization of therapeutics that aim to improve outcomes for patients with rare and specialty diseases. It focuses on the treatment of patients with osteogenesis imperfecta, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in obese men, and acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The company was founded by Denise Vera Pollard-Knight, Charles Sermon, Alastair MacKinnon, and John Richard in March 2015 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

LONDON and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) -- LONDON and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Feb. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mereo BioPharma Group plc MREO, -4.28% (aim:MPH), "Mereo" or the "Company," a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on rare diseases, today announced that it has entered into a $5 million convertible equity financing with Novartis Pharma (AG) ("Novartis") and concurrently entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement to issue up to $28 million of the Company's ordinary shares exchangeable for American Depositary Shares ("ADSs"), including a $3 million initial purchase, with Aspire Capital Fund, LLC ("Aspire Capital"), a Chicago-based institutional investor. Proceeds from these transactions are intended to be used by Mereo for general corporate purposes, including clinical trial activity and working capital.

"These transactions provide us with an efficient and flexible source of capital as we continue to prepare for our upcoming Type B End-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA to discuss the positive data from our recently-completed Phase 2b ASTEROID study with setrusumab in adult patients with osteogenesis imperfecta ("OI"), as well as our proposed pivotal study design in pediatric OI patients. The EMA supports the initiation of the planned pivotal pediatric Phase 3 study in Europe on the basis of the previously approved pediatric investigational plan (PIP)," said Dr. Denise Scots-Knight, Chief Executive Officer of Mereo. "We are very pleased to have secured financing from both Novartis and Aspire, and we look forward to the continued advancement of our pipeline in 2020."