Surface’s Biniszkiewicz, Chappel join MPM Capital as executive partners

Surface Oncology’s Detlev Biniszkiewicz, Ph.D., and Scott Chappel, Ph.D., have both made the jump to MPM Capital as executive partners. They will help identify and oversee new investment opportunities in oncology startups and take on leadership roles in those companies.

At the cancer immunotherapy-focused Fierce 15 winner, Biniszkiewicz served as president and CEO through 2017, before the company’s $108 million initial public offering earlier this year. Chappel, one of Surface’s founders, served as chief technology officer and oversaw antibody generation, production and preclinical studies.

And to hit the ground running, Chappel was appointed as chief scientific officer for MPM’s portfolio company iTeos Therapeutics earlier this summer—which recently raised $75 million in a series B round to move its A2A antagonist into the clinic in the next year, targeting immunosuppressive mechanisms.

He will be responsible for building out iTeos’ pipeline and leading preclinical development as the Belgium-based company expands into new office space in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Prior to Surface Oncology, Chappel helped found Arteaus Therapeutics, which was acquired by Eli Lilly in 2014, and was CSO at Tokai Pharmaceuticals. Before that, he was a senior VP of research at Dyax and a chief scientist at Serono.

"MPM is one of only a few life-science venture firms primarily focused on investing in early-stage oncology, and we share the same passion to transform the outcomes and well-being of patients suffering from cancer," Biniszkiewicz said in a statement.

Biniszkiewicz joined Surface shortly after it emerged in 2015 with $35 million in venture funding, after serving as VP of strategy for AstraZeneca’s oncology unit, where he helped lead development of Lynparza and Tagrisso. He quietly left the CEO post sometime in 2017, staying on at Surface as a director. Surface eventually named Jeff Goater as its new CEO, about a month before its IPO.

Biniszkiewicz previously held multiple roles at Novartis, including global head of portfolio management and analysis, providing oversight of Novartis’ research and early development portfolio.

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