On January 5, 2026 Orum Therapeutics (Orum or the Company) (KRX: 475830), a biotechnology company pioneering the field of degrader-antibody conjugates (DACs), reported 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.
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"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.
(Press release, Orum Therapeutics, JAN 5, 2026, View Source [SID1234661695])