Bangalore India and Delaware, USA, based biopharma startup Bugworks Research, designing first-in-class antibiotics announced the completion of a $9M Series-A financing, led by University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC) Japan, with syndication from Acquipharma Holdings, 3ONE4 Capital and other prominent biotech-focussed global angels.

Bugworks' novel bacterial topoisomerase inhibitor (NBTI) is highly effective against a very broad spectrum of multi-drug resistant bacterial pathogens.

This potent first-in-class antibiotic was designed using ELUDE, Bugworks' proprietary efflux-pump avoidance platform. ELUDE enables the design of novel, differentiated antibiotics to cure hospital, community and bio-threat infections.

Bugworks' NBTI is a dual target small molecule inhibitor, with very low potential to create resistant strains, effective against all pathogens on the WHO Critical, High & Medium priority list as well as the CDC identified bio-threat bacterial pathogens.

"The rise of Anti-microbial Resistance (AMR) is an urgent global issue that needs to be tackled on war-footing. Bugworks addresses the AMR crisis by creating a new class of antibiotics targeting all-known classes of multi-drug resistant bacteria. We would like to promote collaborative developments through a strong relationship between Bugworks and the Japan Bio Ecosystem for driving global innovation in this field," said Dr. Atsushi Usami, Partner at UTEC. In connection with the Series A financing, Dr. Usami will be joining the Bugworks' Board of Directors.