YONKERS, New York, Sept. 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ContraFect Corporation (Nasdaq: CFRX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of direct lytic agents (DLAs), including lysins and amurin peptides, today announces that Jane Ambler, Ph.D., the Company’s Vice President of Clinical Microbiology, will be presenting at the ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance, which will be held in Boston, MA from September 19-22, 2023.

Dr. Ambler’s presentation will review the current standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) for the determination of antibacterial activity of therapeutic agents and the implications for clinical development. She will highlight and discuss various antibiotics in current use and several investigational agents that require a modified AST method, such as the Company’s DLAs. Review and approval of new AST methods by standards development organizations, such as the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), is essential. The methodology for susceptibility testing of the Company’s anti-staphylococcal lysin, exebacase, will be described as an illustrative example of a modified AST method recently approved by the CLSI in order to assess the susceptibility of clinical trial isolates in the Company’s Phase 1b/2 study of exebacase currently being conducted in France in patients with chronic prosthetic joint infections (PJI) of the knee.

Presentation Details:

The Company will be presenting two posters describing the initial development of the exebacase MIC method for testing Staphylococci other than Staphylococcus aureus (SoSA) and method verification studies performed to evaluate test performance. These data together with exebacase MIC data of contemporary SoSA isolates generated by testing clinical isolates collected as part of the US SENTRY surveillance program led to the recent approval by CLSI.

About ContraFect

ContraFect is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of DLAs, including lysins and amurin peptides, as new medical modalities for the treatment of life-threatening, antibiotic-resistant infections. An estimated 700,000 deaths worldwide each year are attributed to antimicrobial-resistant infections. We intend to address life threatening infections using therapeutic product candidates generated from our proprietary platform of DLAs. Lysins are a new class of DLAs which are recombinantly produced antimicrobial proteins with a novel mechanism of action associated with the rapid killing of target bacteria, eradication of biofilms and synergy with conventional antibiotics. Amurin peptides are a novel class of DLAs which exhibit broad-spectrum activity against a wide range of antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative pathogens. We believe that the properties of our lysins and amurin peptides will make them suitable for targeting antibiotic-resistant organisms, such as MRSA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii, which can cause serious infections such as bacteremia and pneumonia. We are currently enrolling patients in a Phase 1b/2 of exebacase being conducted in France in the setting of an arthroscopic debridement, antibiotics, irrigation, and retention (DAIR) procedure in patients with chronic prosthetic joint infections (PJI) of the knee due to Staphylococcus aureus or coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS).

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains, and our officers and representatives may make from time to time, “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “projects,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “intends,” “plans,” “potential,” “promise” or similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements in this release include, without limitation, ContraFect’s anticipated presentation at the ASM/ESCMID Joint Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance, statements made regarding Dr. Ambler’s presentation, AST, CLSI, the Phase 1b/2 study and Company posters, ContraFect’s ability to discover and develop DLAs as new medical modalities for the treatment of life-threatening, antibiotic-resistant infections, whether ContraFect will address life-threatening infections using therapeutic candidates from its proprietary DLA platform, whether lysins are a new class of DLAs which are recombinantly produced, antimicrobial proteins with a novel mechanism of action associated with the rapid killing of target bacteria, eradication of biofilms and synergy with conventional antibiotics, whether amurins are a novel class of DLAs which exhibit broad-spectrum activity against a wide range of antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative pathogens, whether the properties of ContraFect’s lysins and amurins will make them suitable for targeting antibiotic-resistant organisms, such as MRSA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii and statements made regarding the exebacase Phase 1b/2 trial in France. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts, nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based on ContraFect’s current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of its business, future plans, strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond ContraFect’s control, including, without limitation, that ContraFect has and expects to continue to incur significant losses, ContraFect’s need for additional funding, which may not be available, the occurrence of any adverse events related to the discovery, development and commercialization of ContraFect’s product candidates such as unfavorable clinical trial results, insufficient supplies of drug products, the lack of regulatory approval, or the unsuccessful attainment or maintenance of patent protection, changes in management may negatively affect ContraFect’s business and other important risks detailed under the caption “Risk Factors” in ContraFect's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the year ended June 30, 2023 and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by ContraFect in this press release is based only on information currently available and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable law, ContraFect expressly disclaims any obligations to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Investor Relations Contacts:

Michael Messinger
ContraFect Corporation
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