Orum Therapeutics Closes $84 Million Series B Financing To Advance Novel Targeted Protein Degrader Payloads Into Clinical Trials For Cancer
Orum’s Antibody neoDegrader Conjugate (AnDC™) platform creates ADC therapeutics to deliver a class of novel payloads specifically to cancer cells
Proprietary payloads, neoDegraders, are designed to target cancer-driving proteins for degradation via the E3 ubiquitin ligase pathway
Orum plans to use the proceeds to advance the company’s lead therapeutic candidates, ORM-5029 for solid tumors and ORM-6151 for hematological cancers, into the clinic and continue to advance R&D on its platforms and additional product candidates
June 23, 2021 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
BOSTON & DAEJEON, South Korea--Orum Therapeutics, a biotech company pioneering the development of targeted protein degraders to treat cancer, today announced the close of a $84 million Series B financing. This includes a previously announced $30 million financing and $54 million in new funds led by IMM Investment and joined by new investors (KDB Investment and Atinum, among others) and existing investors (Intervest and KB Investment, among others). Orum plans to use the proceeds to advance the Company’s lead therapeutic candidates into clinical trials, explore additional payload chemistries to develop additional payloads that modulate the ubiquitin pathway, and other general corporate purposes.
Orum’s Antibody neoDegrader Conjugate (AnDC) platform is built on novel targeted protein degrader payloads combined with the precise tumor cell delivery mechanisms of antibodies to generate innovative, first-in-class antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of cancer. The company has developed a new class of ADC payloads, called neoDegraders, to specifically degrade intracellular target proteins within cancer cells via the E3 ubiquitin ligase pathway. Conjugated to antibodies, neoDegraders are designed to be delivered specifically to cancer cells and degrade the intracellular target protein and cause tumor cell death.
“AnDCs leverage the strengths of both targeted protein degraders and ADCs while overcoming the limitations of each modality. Advances in ADC therapies have been hampered by a lack of diversity in payloads with a novel mechanism of action to inhibit tumor cell growth, and small molecule degraders do not possess tissue specificity," said Peter U. Park, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Orum Therapeutics. “The team at Orum has created a unique set of payloads that can target intracellular proteins for degradation. These first-in-class targeted ADC protein degraders have the potential to deliver precise and catalytic tumor-killing action to improve cancer treatment.”
The lead therapeutic programs from Orum’s AnDC platform are ORM-5029 for the treatment of solid tumors and ORM-6151 for the treatment of hematological cancers. Each program employs a different antibody drug to specifically deliver Orum’s lead neoDegrader to tumor cells. The company plans to file Investigational New Drug (IND) applications for ORM-5029 and ORM-6151 in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
“We are grateful for the support of our new and returning investors as we continued to pursue our mission of developing new therapeutics to target ‘undruggable’ proteins and help patients with limited treatment options,” said Sung Joo Lee, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Orum Therapeutics. “We believe our AnDC platform overcomes the lack of diversity in ADC payloads and the limitations of current targeted protein degrader technologies. With encouraging preclinical data on our two lead therapeutic candidates, we are excited to use the proceeds to continue to advance our first-in-class tumor-directed targeted protein degraders into the clinic for the treatment of cancer.”
About Orum Therapeutics
Orum Therapeutics is pioneering the development of tumor-directed targeted protein degraders to improve the treatment of cancer. The company’s neoDegraders are novel, proprietary payloads for targeted protein degradation and its Antibody neoDegrader Conjugate (AnDC) platform 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, U.S., and Daejeon, Korea. For more information, visit www.orumrx.com.
Orum Moves To Cambridge Discovery Park, Looking To Expand Team
As our research efforts continue to expand in Cambridge, we are moving from our incubator to a space of our own in Cambridge Discovery Park. We are excited to have the additional lab and office space as we are adding new team members and further building out our research facilities in Cambridge to advance our platform technology.
Orum’s international team is dedicated to advancing antibodies for targeted protein degradation to treat cancer. Using Orum’s antibody and conjugation platform, our scientists discover antibodies that bind cell-specific receptors and deliver the cargoes intracellularly to degrade disease-causing proteins. The platform technology is adaptable to target different cell types and intracellular proteins.
As we settle into our new space, we continue to look for outstanding researchers to be based in our Cambridge labs. Currently, we have several positions open (www.orumrx.com/careers) for candidates who are passionate about new drug discovery. If you have experience in cancer biology, E3 ligase biology, pharmacology, or therapeutic antibody development, please send your resume and cover letter to jobs@orumrx.com to apply.
Orum Therapeutics Announces $30 Million Series B Financing
Financing proceeds to fund further platform development and therapeutic discovery in cancer and rare diseases, and expansion of Orum’s new Boston R&D labs
BOSTON and DAEJEON, South Korea, July 17, 2019 – Orum Therapeutics announced today an oversubscribed $30 million Series B financing. New investors, IMM Investment, Smilegate Investment, KTB Network, and Stassets Investment, join existing investors, InterVest and KB Investment/Solidus Investment in the financing. The proceeds of the financing will be used to expand OromabTM, Orum’s proprietary cell-specific, cell-penetrating antibody platform technology that targets “undruggable” proteins and delivers a variety of therapeutic payloads. The company is applying the Oromab platform to discover and develop novel therapeutics for cancer and rare diseases, both internally and with partners. The financing will also further expand Orum’s R&D labs in Korea and Boston, where the company was recently accepted into a biotech incubator in Kendall Square, Cambridge.
“A large number of important therapeutic targets are currently considered ‘undruggable,’ making drug discovery for these targets technically challenging,” said Sung Joo Lee, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Orum Therapeutics. “By intracellular delivery of antibodies, our platform redefines what undruggable means.”
Using the Oromab platform, Orum builds antibodies that bind cell-specific receptors and are internalized through receptor-mediated endocytosis. With Orum’s proprietary design, these antibodies escape the early endosome into the cytosol. Once in the cytosol, the antibodies can be therapeutically active and directly target disease-causing proteins or deliver payloads. With the Oromab platform, Orum is exploring several therapeutic avenues: 1) inhibiting Ras and tumor-specific intracellular oncogenic drivers, 2) delivery of oligonucleotides or enzymes for cancer and rare diseases, and 3) targeted degradation of disease proteins.
“Orum’s cell-penetrating antibody platform is unique in that, it has the capacity to not only transform the landscape of druggable targets, but also overcome the limitation of cytosolic delivery of other therapeutic modalities,” said Peter Park, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Orum Therapeutics.
About Orum Therapeutics, Inc.
Orum Therapeutics is a private biotech company developing a new class of therapeutic antibodies targeting cytosolic proteins for unmet medical needs in cancer and rare diseases. Orum leverages its unique cell-penetrating antibody platform, called OromabTM to inhibit drug targets, previously undruggable by small molecules or current antibody therapeutics. In contrast to other approaches, Orum’s antibody platform can intracellularly deliver an active antibody therapeutic or payload, is easily adaptable to target different cell types and intracellular proteins, and does not require chemical modification. For more information, please visit www.orumrx.com.
Contacts:
Sung Joo Lee, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Orum Therapeutics, +82-42-716-3030, contact@orumrx.com
Jessica Yingling, Ph.D., President, Little Dog Communications, +1-858-344-8091, jessica@litldog.com
JULY 17, 2019