BOSTON & DAEJEON, South Korea–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Orum Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering the development of tumor-directed targeted protein degraders to treat cancer, today announced the formation of its scientific advisory board (SAB). The SAB is comprised of a distinguished group of academic and industry experts who will advise the Orum Therapeutics team on the development of Orum’s novel targeted protein degraders (TPD) that use Orum’s TPD²™ approach, which combines the power of protein degradation with the precise tumor cell delivery mechanism of an antibody.
“We are proud to have experienced leaders in drug discovery and clinical development joining our SAB,” said Peter U. Park, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Orum Therapeutics. “We look forward to meeting regularly and fully leveraging the team’s diverse breadth of experiences as we progress the first molecule from our Antibody neoDegrader Conjugate platform, ORM-5029, into the clinic and continue to expand our pipeline in dual-precision protein degradation and broader protein homeostasis. With our scientific advisors’ guidance, we believe that we can bring first-in-class, dual-precision therapeutics to cancer patients quickly.”
Appointed members of the newly formed Orum Therapeutics SAB include the following:
- Julie M. Cherrington, Ph.D., is an experienced life science executive with extensive insight in bringing drugs into the clinic and through to commercialization. She has been a key contributor to the successful development of multiple FDA-approved products, including SUTENT®, PALLADIA®, VISTIDE®, VIREAD®, and HEPSERA®. Dr. Cherrington previously served as President and CEO of several oncology companies and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Mirati Therapeutics, Vaxart, Syncona Ltd., MycRx, Kisoji Biotechnology, and Sardona Therapeutics.
- Sara Hurvitz, M.D., is Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Co-director of the Santa Monica-UCLA Outpatient Oncology Practice, Medical Director of the Clinical Research Unit of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA, and Director of Breast Oncology. She has an active clinical practice specializing in the treatment of women with breast cancer. In addition, Dr. Hurvitz is a leader of multiple clinical trials testing new targeted therapies, including ENHERTU® for HER2 breast cancer, and preclinical evaluation of novel breast cancer targets.
- Maria Koehler, M.D., Ph.D., is Chief Medical Officer of Repare Therapeutics and has more than 20 years of experience in both large, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Dr. Koehler served as an independent Board Member for Celyad Oncology and now serves as Board of Director for IKENA and Silverback Therapeutics. Her industry experience includes leading the development of IBRANCE®.
- Zoran Rankovic, Ph.D., is Director, Chemistry Centers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Prior to joining St. Jude, he served as director in medicinal chemistry at large pharmaceutical companies, where he led teams that delivered clinical candidates over a range of therapeutic areas. At St. Jude, Dr. Rankovic directs a multidisciplinary team that focuses on targeted protein degradation. He has published over 90 scientific papers, patents, and book chapters on drug discovery topics.
- Roland B. Walter, M.D., Ph.D., M.S., is Professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington. Dr. Walter specializes in treating acute myeloid leukemia (AML). His research seeks to develop new and improved antibody-based therapies in the laboratory that effectively kill AML cells, including treatments that eradicate the AML stem cells, and then to bring these therapies to patients.
About Orum Therapeutics
Orum Therapeutics is pioneering the development of tumor-directed targeted protein degraders by leveraging its TPD²™ approach to provide dual precision, antibody-enabled targeted protein degraders for cell-specific delivery. The Company’s proprietary platforms generated using the TPD² approach includes the Antibody neoDegrader Conjugate (AnDC™) platform, which generates first-in-class antibody drug conjugates. The first therapeutic candidates from the AnDC platform are in development for the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic cancers. Orum is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Daejeon, South Korea. For more information, visit www.orumrx.com.
