Biopharmaceutical company MicuRx Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Monday that it expects up to USD5.2m of non-dilutive financing for IND enablement and subsequent Phase 1 clinical studies of MRX-8, also known as PMX-8, for the treatment of multi-drug resistant gram-negative infections .

The company expects the funding from its global partnership with Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Accelerator (CARB-X), was launched by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)'s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID/NIH).

According to the company, the antibacterial class of polymyxins includes the drugs colistin and polymyxin B, essential antibiotics with potent activity against gram-negative pathogens, including E. coli, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae as well as A. baumannii.

While very effective, polymyxins are relegated to a last-resort option due to the high incidence of kidney toxicity (nephrotoxicity), with rates up to 60% for the polymyxin therapy. Due to the lack of agents effective against multi-drug resistant infections, physicians are increasingly using polymyxins, despite the toxicity.

MicuRx added that its new agent MRX-8 is designed to overcome the limiting nephrotoxicity of current polymyxins. Current preclinical data demonstrated its high efficacy, with the reduced nephrotoxicity as well as attenuated acute or neuromuscular toxicity, against existing polymyxin drugs.