SeaStar Medical Holding Corporation has named Michael Messinger as chief financial officer (CFO).

“Mike brings to SeaStar Medical a breadth of financial expertise, operational discipline, and strategic healthcare experience that will be invaluable as we grow our commercial operations and prepare for additional commercial opportunities for our SCD therapy,” SeaStar Medical CEO Eric Schlorff stated. “I am thrilled to welcome Mike to the team and look forward to working with him to advance both our strategic and financial goals.”

Messinger has more than 25 years of experience and leadership in financing and accounting for drug discovery and development organizations. He currently serves as a board member for Filament Health Corp. and a strategic consultant to various biotechnology companies. Messinger most recently served as CFO of ContraFect Corporation, where he led the company through its Nasdaq initial public offering in 2014, multiple financing rounds, including investments from Pfizer Inc., and a $90 million contract with BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority). Before joining ContraFect, Messinger held senior financial roles at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Coelacanth Corporation. He started his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young LLP.

Messinger earned his B.B.A. degree in accounting from the University of Michigan.

“The commercial results from the use of SeaStar Medical’s first-in-class QUELIMMUNE (SCD-PED) therapy in pediatric AKI patients to date, in addition to the clinical data obtained prior to approval, is truly remarkable,” Messinger said. “I am very excited to work with the SeaStar Medical team to build on their early success, expand our SCD therapy to address multiple indications, and fulfill our mission to spare organ function and save lives in patients impacted by destructive hyperinflammation.”

SeaStar Medical is a commercial-stage healthcare company focused on transforming treatments for critically ill patients facing organ failure and potential loss of life. The QUELIMMUNE (SCD-PED) therapy is SeaStar Medical’s first commercial product based on its patented Selective Cytopheretic Device (SCD) technology. The QUELIMMUNE (SCD-PED) therapy was approved last year by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is the only FDA-approved product for the ultra-rare condition of life-threatening acute kidney injury (AKI) due to sepsis or a septic condition in critically ill pediatric patients. SeaStar Medical’s Selective Cytopheretic Device (SCD) therapy has been awarded Breakthrough Device Designation for six therapeutic indications by the FDA, enabling the potential for a speedier pathway to approval and preferable reimbursement dynamics at commercial launch. The company is currently conducting a pivotal trial of its SCD therapy in adult patients with AKI requiring continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), a life-threatening condition with no effective treatment options that impacts over 200,000 U.S. adults annually.