ContraFect Expands Senior Management Team

YONKERS, NY--(Marketwire - Sep 12, 2012) - ContraFect Corporation announced today that it has expanded the senior management of the company with the addition of biotechnology veteran Julia Gregory and promotion of Mike Wittekind. Ms. Gregory joined ContraFect in July 2012 as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Dr. Wittekind joined ContraFect in March 2012 as the senior vice president of research and received the promotion to chief scientific officer in August.

"We are delighted with the recent additions to our management team," stated Robert Nowinski, founder and chief executive officer. "Julia brings extensive biotechnology experience in financing, strategic alliances and transactions, operations and executive management. Mike has had a long and successful career developing bio-therapeutics, and since he joined us 6 months ago has had an extraordinary impact on our organization. ContraFect is in a strong position with important new medicines for infectious diseases. We look forward to Julia and Mike's leadership in working with us to take ContraFect to the next level."

Prior to joining ContraFect, Ms. Gregory was president and chief executive officer of Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc., where she led strategic partnering transactions with GlaxoSmithKline for discovery and with Human Genome Sciences for their lead oncology drug. Ms. Gregory previously was executive vice president and chief financial officer of publicly-traded Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she raised approximately $1 billion in public and private equity, product development financings and strategic business transactions with Invus, L.P., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Genentech, Inc., and Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Limited. Prior to Lexicon, Ms. Gregory was an investment banker for over 20 years, primarily as Head of Investment Banking and of Healthcare Banking at Punk, Ziegel & Company, and at Dillon, Read & Co, Inc.

Prior to joining ContraFect, Dr. Wittekind served as the Executive Director of Research for Amgen, Inc., where he directed the Protein Science Department at the Amgen-Seattle site. While at Amgen his team discovered seven therapeutics now undergoing clinical trials. Previously, Dr. Wittekind was the Director of Process Development for Phylos, Inc., where he played a key role in the development of alternate scaffold therapeutic discovery, design, and production. Dr. Wittekind has also served as the Associate Director of the Gene Expression & Protein Biochemistry Department of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, directing groups in both the Lawrenceville and Hopewell NJ sites leading structural biology research as well as protein and small molecule therapeutic efforts.

About ContraFect:

ContraFect Corporation is a biotechnology company pioneering the use of Lysins and Monoclonal Antibodies to treat life-threatening infectious diseases. ContraFect's initial products include agents to treat diseases such as MRSA (drug-resistant staphylococcus bacteria) and influenza. Its scientific strategy focuses on the use of combination therapies, where it believes that the company's products will overcome high rates of mutation and resistance observed in microbes.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. Any statements contained herein that do not describe historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.