Orum Therapeutics Appoints Chad May as Chief Scientific Officer to Drive Degrader-Antibody Conjugate Innovation and Programs

BOSTON & DAEJEON, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Orum Therapeutics (Orum or the Company) (KRX: 475830), a biotechnology company pioneering the field of degrader-antibody conjugates (DACs), today announced the appointment of Chad May, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Dr. May brings more than 20 years of oncology and immunology research experience with a track record of advancing antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), T-cell engagers, and other next-generation therapeutic platforms from concept to clinical evaluation.

“Chad has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to take bold scientific concepts and advance them into clinical candidates across multiple therapeutic modalities,” said Sung Joo (SJ) Lee, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Orum. “His leadership experience in ADCs, T-cell engagers, and structure-driven platform design aligns with Orum’s commitment to precision engineering the next generation of degrader-antibody conjugates. Chad’s expertise strengthens our position as a leader in DAC innovation and supports our progress toward meaningful clinical milestones.”

As CSO, Dr. May will provide scientific vision and R&D leadership, guiding the strategic direction, discovery, and advancement of Orum’s pipeline, including the continued evolution of the Company’s proprietary DAC platforms and programs. He will oversee scientific strategy across discovery, translational research, and preclinical development and will play a central role in shaping the next stage of Orum’s technology innovation and pipeline growth.

“The opportunity to join Orum at this stage of growth is incredibly compelling,” said Dr. May. “The Company’s Dual-Precision Targeted Protein Degradation approach provides a powerful foundation for creating new classes of degraders guided by antibody specificity. I am excited to work closely with the talented scientific and leadership teams to advance Orum’s DAC platforms, expand therapeutic applications across cancer and other serious diseases, and drive the next wave of innovation in degrader-antibody conjugates.”

Dr. May joins Orum from Serotiny, where he served as CSO and oversaw the advancement of a novel gene and cell therapy platform through the company’s post-acquisition integration into Johnson & Johnson. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Maverick Therapeutics, where he co-founded and built the R&D organization, advanced multiple conditionally active T-cell engager programs into clinical trials, and led the company’s build-to-buy collaboration with Takeda. Earlier in his career, Dr. May held scientific leadership roles at Pfizer, where he led teams developing T-cell engagers and ADCs and advanced several programs into IND-enabling studies and clinical development. His prior work at ImClone Systems involved the design, conjugation, and evaluation of antibody-based therapeutics. Over his career, Dr. May has built and led high-performing scientific teams, contributed to numerous first-in-class program nominations, and authored more than 30 publications and patents.

About Orum’s TPD²® Approach

Orum’s unique Dual-Precision Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD²®) approach builds novel targeted protein degraders combined with the precise cell delivery mechanisms of antibodies to generate innovative, first-in-class, cell-selective TPDs for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. Orum has developed new targeted protein degrader payloads to specifically degrade an intracellular target protein within cancer cells via the E3 ubiquitin ligase pathway. Conjugated to antibodies, the payloads are designed to be delivered specifically to target cells and precisely degrade the intracellular target protein of interest.

About Orum Therapeutics

Orum Therapeutics is a public biotech pioneering the development of cell-specific, targeted protein degraders (TPD²®) with the precision of antibody targeting to develop the next generation of degrader antibody conjugates (DACs) for oncology and beyond. The company is advancing its GSPT1-directed TPD² programs and developing novel degrader payloads to expand the potential of targeted protein degradation. Orum's novel targeted protein degrader payloads are designed to selectively degrade key intracellular proteins, offering a highly targeted approach to treating difficult-to-treat diseases. Orum is located in Lexington, MA, US, and Daejeon, South Korea. For more info, visit www.orumrx.com.

Orum Therapeutics Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the current expectations and beliefs of Orum Therapeutics, Inc. (“Orum”). Statements in this release regarding matters that are not historical facts, including, but not limited to, statements relating to the development of new classes of degraders; the development of a next generation of degrader-antibody conjugates; the advancement of Orum’s pipeline, including DAC platforms and programs; the expansion of therapeutic applications; the advancement of programs to the clinical stage; and the achievement of clinical milestones are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the uncertainty of success in research and development activities; competition from alternative therapies; and risks related to the recruitment and retention of key employees, fluctuating markets and economic conditions, and future fundraising. The forward-looking statements in this presentation speak only as of the date of this release, and Orum undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of the statements. Orum cautions investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this release.