Shanghai MicuRx Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (MicuRx), a China-based firm that operates as an infectious disease novel therapeutics biopharmaceutical company, announced on Monday, that it has enrolled its first subject in the Phase one clinical trial of its proprietary antibiotic MRX-5 in Australia.

The product is a new type of benzodiazepine antibiotic intended to treat infections caused by NTMs (non-tuberculous mycobacteria).

The company is developing the product for treatment of refractory NTM infections. The company said that pre-clinical studies have indicated that the product has good antibacterial activity for most common NTM bacteria and good safety in animal toxicology studies.

This Phase one study is the first human clinical trial of MRX-5 and is being carried out at the Nucleus Network Research Centre in Australia to evaluate the safety, tolerance, pharmacodynamic characteristics and food impacts of oral MRX-5 in healthy subjects. The trial has previously been approved by the Australian Ethics Commission for Human Research (HREC) and has completed the clinical trial filing at the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). The study is due to be completed in 2024.