Grant of Options

Mereo BioPharma Group plc

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

Grant of Options

London, 27 April 2018 - Mereo BioPharma Group plc (AIM: MPH), a multi-asset biopharmaceutical company, today announces that it has granted options over a total of 100,817 ordinary shares of £0.003 each in the capital of the Company ("Shares") on 26 April 2018 to certain directors and certain other persons discharging managerial responsibility ("PDMRs") (the "Options"), as set out below. 

The Options represent awards under the Company's Deferred Bonus Share Plan (the "DBSP") as previously disclosed in the Remuneration Report of our recently published 2017 Annual Report. The DBSP provides for the deferral of a percentage of the annual bonuses awarded to certain employees of the Company in respect of FY 2017 into the right to acquire shares in equal value to the amount deferred. These Options are nil cost options and the number of Shares subject to the Options has been calculated by reference to the share price at January 31, 2018 of 323 pence per share.

Awards granted under the DBSP

Options granted under the DBSP will normally vest on the third anniversary of the date of grant, after which they will normally be exercisable for a period of one year.

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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 ("HH") 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 and positive top-line data from its Phase 2b dose-ranging study with BGS-649 for the treatment of HH.

The information set out below is provided in accordance with the requirements of Article 19 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.