Orum Therapeutics (“Orum” or the “Company”) (KRX: 475830), a public biotechnology company pioneering the field of degrader-antibody conjugates (DACs), today announced the appointment of Dorin Toader, Ph.D., as Head of Platform Technology. Dr. Toader brings more than 27 years of experience in drug discovery, including over 15 years in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). He will be responsible for defining and executing Orum’s technology vision, leading efforts across chemistry and antibody engineering, and guiding innovation in payload design, conjugation technologies, linker–payload strategies, structural biology, and computational modeling to advance Orum’s Dual-Precision Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD²) approach and expand its therapeutic applications.
“Dorin’s career reflects a proven ability to translate bold science into clinical candidates, including advancing multiple first-in-class ADC candidates into the clinic,” said Sung Joo (SJ) Lee, Founder and CEO of Orum. “His deep expertise in payload and linker design, together with Orum’s established capabilities in structure-based drug design and advanced computational methods such as physics-based modeling and machine learning, will strengthen our ability to innovate and scale our platforms. These combined strengths position us to build the next generation of targeted degrader-antibody conjugates with the potential to benefit patients across a broad range of cancers and other serious diseases.”
“The field of protein degradation is entering a transformative stage, and Orum is at the forefront with its proprietary Dual-Precision Targeted Protein Degradation approach,” said Dr. Toader. “I was drawn to Orum’s vision of creating entirely new classes of targeted degraders by uniting them with the precision of antibody delivery and its investment in structure-based design and computational innovation to drive DAC research and development. I look forward to applying my experience in payload and bioconjugation chemistry to expand Orum’s DAC platforms and broaden the impact of degrader-based medicines in the clinic.”
Dr. Toader joins Orum from Mersana Therapeutics, where he most recently served as Vice President of Chemistry and Bioconjugation, leading teams that delivered novel payload platforms and advanced pipeline programs, including the first STING agonist ADC candidate into clinical development. Earlier in his career, he held scientific and leadership roles at MedImmune, AstraZeneca, and Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, where he contributed to multiple first-in-class drug candidate nominations and investigational new drug (IND) applications. Over his 23-year career in oncology drug discovery, Dr. Toader has built and led high-performing cross-functional teams, authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, and is a named inventor on six granted patents.
