BOSTON & DAEJEON, South Korea– Orum Therapeutics, a preclinical biotech pioneering the development of tumor-directed targeted protein degraders to improve cancer treatment, today announced the appointment of Olaf Christensen, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer. He will lead the clinical development of Orum’s first-in-class targeted protein degraders from the company’s Antibody neoDegrader Conjugate (AnDC) platform.
“We welcome Olaf to the team at this important time for Orum as we transition into a clinical stage biotech,” said Sung Joo Lee, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Orum Therapeutics. “Olaf brings extensive experience in oncology drug development, and we look forward to his leadership in realizing our vision of translating innovative science into breakthrough medicines.”
“I am excited to join the Orum Therapeutics team, which works at the cutting edge of targeted protein degradation therapy,” said Dr. Christensen. “Orum’s AnDC platform has the potential to steer the power of protein degraders with the precision of ADC technology in multiple indications with high unmet clinical need for the benefit of cancer patients. We are at the beginning of an exciting journey to bring this new class of drugs to patients.”
Dr. Christensen has more than 15 years of experience in oncology drug development as an executive leader overseeing phase 1 through phase 4 clinical projects. Most recently, he was Vice President, Head of Oncology Global Clinical Development at EMD Serono, the healthcare business of Merck KGaA in the U.S. and Canada, where he was responsible for development of early to late stage pipeline compounds including immuno-oncology and targeted therapies. Earlier in his career, he worked at Bayer Pharmaceuticals and subsequently in the immuno-oncology clinical development group at Bristol Myers Squibb. He received his M.D. degree at the Albertus Magnus University Cologne, Germany, completed a dissertation in immunotherapy, and trained in oncology at the Clinic for Hematology/Oncology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
