[Special Stock] Korean Bio Platform 'OreumTera' Noticed by BMS... Technology Transfer Achievements Prove Per-Share Valuation of 86,000 Won

The stock price of Orum Therapeutics, which was listed on the 14th, has maintained an upward trend since its listing. The IPO pricing strategy, which set the offering price lower than the per-share valuation of 86,388 KRW estimated by the lead underwriter Korea Investment & Securities, appears to have been effective.

As of 9:54 AM on the 17th, Orum Therapeutics is trading at 25,400 KRW, up 16.51% compared to the previous trading day.

Orum Therapeutics, a developer of degrader-antibody conjugate (DAC) new drugs, is the first bio company in the world to develop DAC. DAC is a type of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC). ADCs consist of an antibody that targets, a payload which is a cytotoxic agent that kills cancer cells, and a linker that connects the antibody and the payload. DAC is a platform that replaces the cytotoxic payload with targeted protein degradation (TPD).

Through its unique dual precision targeted protein degradation (TPD²) technology, Orum Therapeutics is developing innovative cancer treatments. Combining precise cellular delivery mechanisms of antibodies, it has developed the first cell-selective protein degraders that accurately degrade specific target proteins within cancer cells. The molecular adhesive degrader payload delivers target proteins inside cancer cells to specific cells via the E3 ubiquitin ligase pathway through antibody binding. This precise degradation of target proteins represents an innovative approach that opens new horizons in therapy.

Researcher Jongseon Park of Eugene Investment & Securities explained, "In 2023, a technology transfer agreement for ORM-6151 was signed with BMS, and in 2024, a technology transfer agreement for the TPD² platform was signed with Vertex Pharmaceuticals."

In November 2023, Orum licensed the acute myeloid leukemia drug candidate 'ORM-6151' to global pharmaceutical company BMS. The maximum contract value is 180 million USD (approximately 236.2 billion KRW). Of this, the upfront payment is about 55.6%, or 100 million USD (approximately 131.2 billion KRW).

The upfront payment is a non-refundable contract fee even if development fails. The upfront payment Orum received from BMS is the largest among domestic pharmaceutical and bio companies that have licensed out their technology.

In July last year, Orum signed a global multi-target license and option agreement with Vertex Pharmaceuticals in the U.S. Through this contract, Vertex was granted research rights to discover new preconditioning agents for gene editing therapies using Orum's dual precision targeted protein degradation (TPD²) technology. Upon completion of the research period for each target, Vertex will have the option to obtain a worldwide exclusive license for degrader-antibody conjugates (DAC) developed using Orum's TPD² technology. Orum Therapeutics will receive an upfront payment of 15 million USD (approximately 20 billion KRW) and milestone and option payments totaling up to 310 million USD for up to three targets.

After commercialization, Orum is also expected to receive tiered royalties on global annual net sales. This contract is significant as it validates the TPD² platform rather than a specific project. In addition to platform technology transfer contracts, Orum is discussing additional platform technology transfer agreements with global pharmaceutical companies.

Researcher Park added, "We proposed a public offering price range of 24,000 to 30,000 KRW, which is a 65.3% to 72.2% discount compared to the per-share valuation of 86,388 KRW calculated by applying the average price-to-earnings ratio (PER) of 19.3 times from comparable domestic companies to Orum Therapeutics' performance over the same period."

During the institutional investor demand forecast conducted from the 17th to the 23rd of last month, the competition rate was only 16.93 to 1, and the public offering price was set at 20,000 KRW, lower than the lower bound of the desired range of 24,000 to 30,000 KRW.