ContraFect Announces Appointment of Sol Barer to Board of Directors

ContraFect Corporation has announced that Sol Barer, Ph.D. has joined the company's Board of Directors. Dr. Barer has been the principal executive of Celgene Corporation, who over the past 25 years, has led Celgene to become the 3rd largest independent biotechnology company in the world and a member of the S&P500 with a current market capitalization exceeding $25 billion.

Celgene was spun out of Celanese Corporation in 1986, went public in 1987 and Dr. Barer assumed the Presidency in 1993. Subsequently, he became CEO in 2006 and Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2007. He assumed the position of Executive Chairman of the Corporation in June 2010 and as of January 2011 he returned to his present role as Chairman of the Board.

"Sol brings to ContraFect a wealth of experience regarding product development, scientific and business strategy, manufacturing, marketing and the building of an international company," said Robert Nowinski, CEO and Chairman of ContraFect. "With Sol, ContraFect acquires a remarkable strategic leader who shares common values that focus on the patient and the development of therapies for life threatening diseases."

The Board of Directors of ContraFect consists of Robert Nowinski, Ph.D., Sol Barer, Ph.D., Isaac Blech, Cary Sucoff, and David A. Scheinberg, MD, Ph.D. ContraFect is unique in that the five-member Board collectively has over 126 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, starting from its infancy. On an interpersonal level, many of the relationships between Board members have exceeded 25 years. In recruiting Dr. Barer to the Board of Directors, ContraFect used the team of Solit Tessler & Company.