Orum Therapeutics Appoints Chad May as Chief Scientific Officer to Advance Degrader-Antibody Conjugate Platform
Key Insights
Orum Therapeutics (search) has appointed Chad May, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer to lead the advancement of its degrader-antibody conjugate (DAC) platform and pipeline development.
Dr. May brings over 20 years of oncology and immunology research experience, with a proven track record of advancing antibody drug conjugates (search), T-cell engagers (search), and next-generation therapeutic platforms from concept to clinical evaluation.
The appointment strengthens Orum's position as a leader in DAC innovation, with Dr. May overseeing scientific strategy across discovery, translational research, and preclinical development of the company's proprietary TPD²® approach.
Orum Therapeutics (search), a biotechnology company pioneering degrader-antibody conjugates (search) (DACs), has appointed Chad May, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer to drive the advancement of its innovative therapeutic platform. The appointment comes as the company seeks to strengthen its leadership in DAC innovation and accelerate progress toward clinical milestones.
Dr. May brings more than 20 years of oncology and immunology research experience, with a demonstrated track record of advancing antibody drug conjugates (search) (ADCs), T-cell engagers (search), and other next-generation therapeutic platforms from concept to clinical evaluation.
Leadership Experience Across Multiple Platforms
"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 (search), and structure-driven platform design aligns with Orum's commitment to precision engineering the next generation of degrader-antibody conjugates (search)."
Dr. May joins Orum from Serotiny (search), 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 (search), 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 (search).
Earlier in his career, Dr. May held scientific leadership roles at Pfizer, where he led teams developing T-cell engagers (search) and ADCs and advanced several programs into IND-enabling studies and clinical development. His prior work at ImClone Systems (search) 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.
Strategic Role in Pipeline Development
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 (search)."
Innovative TPD²® Technology Platform
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. The company has developed new targeted protein degrader payloads to specifically degrade an intracellular target protein within cancer cells via the E3 ubiquitin ligase (search) pathway. Conjugated to antibodies, the payloads are designed to be delivered specifically to target cells and precisely degrade the intracellular target protein of interest.
The company is currently advancing its GSPT1 (search)-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.
Lee emphasized that "Chad's expertise strengthens our position as a leader in DAC innovation and supports our progress toward meaningful clinical milestones." The appointment positions Orum to accelerate the development of its degrader-antibody conjugate platform as the company works to advance programs toward clinical evaluation.