(Yicai Global) Dec. 7 -- MicuRx Pharmaceutical Inc. closed a financing round led by Delian Capital and BioVeda China Fund to raise CNY100 million (USD15 million) toward ongoing development of its next-generation MRX-1 antibiotic.

The funds will also help support a Chinese New Drug Application filing and other business activities in China, a statement issued on the Shanghai-based company's website said.

The unlisted biopharmaceutical company is working to create antibiotics with improved safety profiles to better treat resistant bacterial infections. Antibiotic resistance is approaching global crisis levels, the World Health Organization has warned, compromising humanity's ability to combat even everyday infectious diseases.

MicuRx "has a complete line of antibiotics for resistant bacterial infections," said Zhao Guobao, investment director at Delian Capital, one of MicuRx's existing investors. "Its MRX-1 is one of the new antibiotics in the country that is closest to industrialization."

The compounds, Contezolid (MRX-1) and Contezolid Acefosamil (MRX-4), are the next-generation oxazolidinones targeting methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Founded in 2007, MicuRx has raised a total of USD107 million through leading venture capital firms such as Delian Capital, Morningside Ventures, BVCF, GP Healthcare Capital, GP TMT Capital, and 3E Bioventures Capital. The company also has research laboratories in San Francisco.