MicuRx Pharmaceuticals is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company based in Hayward, California and Shanghai that discovers and develops antibiotics with improved safety profiles. Its lead compounds are contezolid (MRX-1), an oral oxazolidinone targeting MRSA, and contezolid acefosamil (MRX-4). Contezolid completed two independent Phase 2 studies in the US and China in 2015 and is nearing completion of a Phase 3 program in China for complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI). The company said MRX-4's Phase 2 study in the USA was expected to start in 2018. MicuRx intends to use the new financing to complete the ongoing Phase 3 program for contezolid (MRX-1), pursue a projected Chinese NDA filing, and support other business activities in China. The company has research and development facilities outside San Francisco and in Shanghai and is led by president and CEO Zhengyu Yuan, Ph.D., and CMO Barry Hafkin, M.D. As of the article, MicuRx has raised a total of $107m from venture capital firms. MicuRx is advancing MRX-I, an oral next-generation oxazolidinone antibacterial for infections caused by multi-drug resistant Gram-positive bacteria, including MRSA and VRE. The company completed Phase 1 trials in China and Australia and Phase 2 trials of cSSSI in China and ABSSSI in the U.S. in 2015, using linezolid as a comparator. Those studies demonstrated MRX-I's non-inferiority to linezolid and showed evidence of reduced hematologic toxicity relative to linezolid. MicuRx plans to use the Series C proceeds to continue development of MRX-I in both the United States and China, including completing a Phase 3 trial in China for oral MRX-I in complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI). It also intends to complete a pivotal U.S. Phase 3 trial with oral and intravenous formulations for acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI) and to file a Chinese NDA for cSSSI. Zhengyu Yuan, Ph.D., serves as president and CEO. MicuRx Pharmaceuticals is a Hayward, CA-based biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibiotics to combat infections due to resistant bacteria. Its lead program is MRX-I, a novel oral oxazolidinone antibiotic targeting multi-drug resistant Gram-positive bacteria, including MRSA and VRE. The company intends to use the new capital to fund U.S. development of MRX-I. MicuRx is led by Zhengyu Yuan, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer. It maintains research and development facilities in Hayward, CA and Shanghai, China. To date the company has raised $37M in total funding. MicuRx Pharmaceuticals develops new small‑molecule anti‑infective drugs. The company positions itself as a US–China hybrid, combining biotech pharma innovation in the U.S. with enterprise‑friendly infrastructure and scientific resources in China, and lists R&D bases in the San Francisco Bay Area and Shanghai Zhangjiang Science Park. It appears to be starting by attempting to in‑license failed or abandoned drug candidates from larger pharmaceutical companies. The company was founded by two former officials at Vicuron Pharmaceuticals; the co‑founders named in the article are Zhengyu Yuan and Mike Gordeev, who have Chinese and Russian backgrounds respectively. Financially, MicuRx raised $10 million in a first round of funding. The articles note the firm may not do much of its fundraising or scientific and clinical work in the U.S.

Total raised

$91M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Dec 2017