Yonkers biotech ContraFect Corp. this morning announced that it had promoted Michael Messinger to chief financial officer from senior vice president of finance.
“Mike has made critical contributions to our corporate mission and successfully led our finance and accounting efforts over the past six years, including playing an integral role in raising over $100 million to fund our important work. We look forward to his continued contributions to the progress of the company,” said Steven Gilman, ContraFect”™s chairman and CEO.
“The company is developing an exciting portfolio of lysin and other therapeutics, and I am pleased to continue working alongside the rest of the executive team to lead the finance function, build value for shareholders, and support the advancement of treatments for patients suffering from life-threatening infectious diseases,” Messinger said.
Prior to joining the company in 2012, Messinger was director of finance at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals in Texas, where he was responsible for the financial management of its partnership with Symphony Capital, in addition to fiscal coordination and project management concerning Lexicon’s development programs.
ContraFect, which is located at iPark Hudson, is a clinical stage biotechnology company that focuses on discovering and developing therapeutic proteins and antibodies for life-threatening, drug-resistant infectious diseases, particularly those treated in hospital settings. An estimated 700,000 deaths worldwide each year are attributed to antimicrobial-resistant infections. The company”™s lysin and monoclonal antibody platforms target conserved regions of bacteria or viruses.
Lysins are enzymes that digest the bacterial cell wall and rapidly kill bacteria. This process is much faster than conventional antibiotics, which typically require time for bacterial metabolism to occur before killing bacteria or stopping their growth, according to ContraFect.
In its third-quarter, the company reported a net loss of $4.8 million or 6 cents per share compared with a net loss of $1.6 million or 2 cents per share a year earlier.
ContraFect was founded in 2008 by Robert Nowinski. He served as its CEO until 2013.
