Mereo BioPharma has announced the appointment of Richard Francis as its new head of pharmaceutical development, effective August 1, 2019.

Richard brings to Mereo more than 35 years of experience in biopharmaceutical process development and manufacturing operations across a diverse set of product types including antibodies, recombinant DNA proteins, gene therapy constructs and at all stages of their life cycle development.

Prior to joining Mereo BioPharma, he was the owner and senior director of Francis Biopharma, where he served as an expert CMC consultant to over 30 biopharmaceutical clients, including Mereo.

Dr. Denise Scots-Knight, chief executive officer of Mereo BioPharma commented, “Richard’s extensive process development and chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) experience – including leading the CMC efforts for Ablynx’s first nanobody product from early-stage clinical development through approval and commercial launch – will be instrumental to us as we continue to advance our late-stage product portfolio including setrusumab for osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a rare bone disease with no approved therapies. With a Phase 3 registration study design agreed to by the European Medicines Agency for a pediatric OI population, Richard is a key addition to our existing leadership team as we work to set the stage for our potential commercial operations.”