SAN FRANSICO, Calif. -- By Lee Han-soo/Korea Biomedical Review correspondent – Orum Therapeutics, a Korean biotech start-up, is drawing attention at 2023 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference because it is conducting U.S. clinical trials of an anticancer drug using a new concept that merges targeted protein degraders (TPDs) and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs).

The company is testing ORM-5029, a treatment for breast cancer, in phase 1 trials, applying Orum’s proprietary dual precision targeted protein degraders (TPD2) platform, which combines ADC and TPD technologies.

The novel platform allows ORM-5029 to attach a targeted proteolytic agent to the antibody Instead of toxic chemical drugs.

Such a mechanism allows the candidate to accurately send the decomposition material to a specific protein that plays a key role in cancer cell growth.

By removing such a protein, the company believes it will cure cancer by inhibiting cancer cell growth.

Orum was invited to 2023 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, held from Monday to Thursday, to introduce its technology to potential investors and research partners.

Korea Biomedical Review met with Orum Therapeutics CEO Lee Sung-joo and CMO Olaf Christensen to learn about the company’s novel platform and its goals on the sideline of the 2023 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

It is the first time that CMO Christensen spoke with the Korean press.

Christensen, who leads the clinical development of Orum’s TPD2, has more than 15 years of experience in oncology drug development. He oversees phase 1 through phase 4 clinical projects.

Most recently, he served as vice president and head of oncology global clinical development at EMD Serono, the healthcare business of Merck KGaA in the U.S. and Canada. He was responsible for the development of early to late-stage pipeline compounds, including immunotherapies and targeted therapies. Earlier, Christensen also worked at Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Bristol Myers Squibb.

When asked why he decided to join a Korean preclinical biotech firm, Christensen stressed that he decided to join the company due to Orum’s cutting-edge technology that no other company has been working on.

“Orum’s technology is an approach with a lot of potential that can benefit cancer patients, and from a scientific point of view, that made the company very appealing to me,” he said.

While many companies are developing a treatment using TPD, Christensen explained that the company’s technology is different, he said. Orum is combining TPD to potentially destroy cancer cells using ADC.

“TPD has many advantages as it degrades proteins in the cancer cells leading to cancer cell death, and allows us to approach proteins and targets which have previously been so-called undruggable,” Christensen said. “However, TPD alone also has some disadvantages as many of the molecules targeted by TPD are not tissue specific.”

This means the TPD will not only go into the tumor cells but also going into all the cells, including healthy cells, Christensen added.

Christensen stressed that for some molecules, TPD cannot penetrate cancer cells, making it hard to inhibit and kill cancer cells.

“To resolve this issue, the company took a keyhole approach using ADC,” Christensen said. “By using the strengths of the ADC, which finds cancer cells, we could target specific molecules on the cancer cell’s surface.”

Such a mechanism allows the company’s technology to target the payload (treatment) directly to the cancer cell and allow the payload to go directly into the cancer cells, Christensen added.

However, as the drug candidate is still in its early stages, Christensen noted that not much is known about the resistance build-up of anticancer treatments using the TPD technology.

“At some point, we believe we will be able to speculate that the molecules will get potential resistance mechanism,” Christensen said.

Christensen emphasized that the company is focusing on phase 1 trials for ORM-5029 in patients with HER2-expressing advanced solid tumors in the U.S.

The trial, which started in October 2022, is going on track in terms of recruiting patients and the interim result of the trial would come out in two years, he said.

Orum looking for additional investors during JPM 2023

During the interview, Korea Biomedical Review also had a chance to hear about Orum’s strategy from Lee Sung-joo, founder and CEO of Orum Therapeutics, during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. 

Orum has already met up with some U.S. investment banking officials and research analysts during the world's largest IR event for the biopharma industry, Lee said. 

However, rather than focusing heavily only on investment, the company is also looking forward to meeting potential research partners as the conference continues.

Lee and Christensen stressed that the company has yet to decide whether to license out the drug or continue working on the treatment in-house.

“Our current goal is to continue with the clinical trials of our pipeline, ORM-5029 is undergoing phase 1 clinical trials, and we also aim to bring ORM-6151, a GSPT1 degrader on a CD33 antibody for acute myeloid leukemia indication (AML) into the clinical stage,” Christensen said. “At some later time point, I think we might look into licensing opportunities.”

Lee agreed.

“We want to make Orum into a company that has a commercialized drug,” Lee said. “As for licensing out our candidate, we still have to look at the current market situation.”

For now, Lee stressed that when the ORM-5029’s interim result comes out around the end of 2024, the company will discuss how to proceed.