Global CRO Icon, based in Dublin, has partnered with Mereo BioPharma Group, a London-based, recently formed specialty biopharmaceutical company. Icon will be the sole provider of clinical development services to Mereo.

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