CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Surface Oncology (Nasdaq: SURF), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing next-generation immunotherapies that target the tumor microenvironment, today announced that Carsten Brunn, Ph.D., will join the company’s board of directors. Dr. Brunn brings more than 25 years of senior leadership experience spanning multiple biotech and pharmaceutical companies around the globe.
“I am thrilled to welcome Carsten to the Surface Oncology board,” said Rob Ross, M.D., chief executive officer at Surface. “Carsten is an accomplished biopharma executive with significant experience driving innovation and his counsel will be invaluable as we advance our mission of bringing important new IO therapies to patients in need.”
Dr. Brunn is president and chief executive officer at Selecta Biosciences (Nasdaq: SELB), a clinical stage precision immune tolerance platform company. Before joining Selecta, he was president of pharmaceuticals for the Americas region at Bayer, and prior to that he served as president of Bayer Pharmaceuticals in Japan. Dr. Brunn previously served on the board of directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), and he was chairman of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) Japan. Over his extensive career, Dr. Brunn has held leadership positions at Eli Lilly, Novartis, Basilea and Bausch and Lomb. He graduated from the University of Freiburg in Germany with a M.S. in pharmaceutical sciences, and he earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Hamburg, Germany. He also studied at the University of Washington and completed his executive education at London Business School.
“Surface has a compelling pipeline of novel antibodies which hold the potential to improve the lives of people confronting a variety of cancers,” said Dr. Brunn. “I am tremendously excited to be joining the Surface board, and I look forward to lending my skills and experience to support the management team in their important work.”
About Surface Oncology:
Surface Oncology is an immuno-oncology company developing next-generation antibody therapies focused on the tumor microenvironment. Its pipeline includes two wholly-owned clinical-stage programs targeting CD39 (SRF617) and IL-27 (SRF388), as well as a preclinical program focused on selectively depleting regulatory T cells in the tumor microenvironment via targeting CCR8 (SRF114). In addition, Surface has two partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies: a collaboration with Novartis targeting CD73 (NZV930; Phase 1) and a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline targeting PVRIG (GSK4381562, formerly SRF813; Phase 1). Surface’s novel, investigational, cancer immunotherapies are designed to achieve a clinically meaningful and sustained anti-tumor response and may be used alone or in combination with other therapies. For more information, please visit www.surfaceoncology.com.
