Biotechnology founder named to the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp

New Windsor — ContraFect Corporation, a biotechnology company pioneering the use of recombinant proteins to treat drug-resistant infections, is forming a close relationship with Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp and NY BioHud Valley. Dr. Robert Nowinski, founder of the Yonkers-based ContraFect, which is based in Yonkers, has been named as a board member of the development corps. ContraFect has been named one of NY BioHud Valley's founding members. Nowinski founded seven biotechnology companies. He subsequently brought four of these companies public through an IPO financing. In each company, he acquired the initial technology and provided oversight for the research programs. Three of the public companies have been acquired by major pharmaceutical companies: Genetic Systems in 1987 for $310 million by Bristol-Myers; PathoGenesis in 2000 for $660 million by Chiron/Novartis; and Icos in 2006 for $2.2 billion by Eli Lilly. Collectively, these companies have developed and marketed eight diagnostic tests and two therapeutic drugs (Cialis for erectile dysfunction and TOBI, the leading drug for cystic fibrosis). The Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp is the leading economic development agency for the seven-county region that includes Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties. Founding members of NY BioHud Valley support the Hudson Valley as the epicenter of the biotech industry in New York. "We enjoy the scientific community in the Hudson Valley and have access to many of our current collaborators here," Nowinski said.