Press Release

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nektar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NKTR) announced today several promotions on its executive leadership team: 

• Jonathan Zalevsky, Ph.D. has been promoted to Chief Research & Development Officer 
• Gil M. Labrucherie has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer in addition to his role as Chief Financial Officer

"I am very pleased to announce these two well-deserved promotions on Nektar's Executive Committee," said Howard W. Robin, President & CEO of Nektar. "Both Jonathan and Gil have played an integral role in the advancement of Nektar's pipeline over their respective tenures at the Company. Each one brings to their new role the right combination of dynamic leadership, skill set and talent. It is critical that we have the optimal organizational structure in place to drive the continued advancement of our pipeline and the success of our company."

Dr. Jonathan Zalevsky brings over 20 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical leadership to his new role as Chief R&D Officer. He will lead all aspects of the R&D organization within Nektar, including research, clinical development, regulatory affairs and biologics process development. Dr. Zalevsky joined the Company in 2015 and has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since 2017. During his tenure at Nektar, Dr. Zalevsky's expertise in immunology, as well as his experience across biological modalities and therapeutic areas, have helped fuel the growth of the company's immuno-oncology and immunology pipeline. Dr. Zalevsky led the early development for NKTR-214 (bempegaldeskleukin, a CD122 preferential IL-2 pathway agonist being developed for the treatment of multiple cancers with partner Bristol-Myers Squibb) and NKTR-358 (a T regulatory cell stimulatory agent being developed for auto-immune diseases with partner Eli Lilly & Co.). Prior to joining Nektar, Dr. Zalevsky had over 15 years of experience within both large pharmaceutical and small biotechnology companies. Previously, Dr. Zalevsky was Global Vice President and Head of the Inflammation Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. As the leading immunologist for Takeda, he was responsible for an immunology pipeline that spanned from early target discovery to late-stage development and launched products. Dr. Zalevsky received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Tetrad Program at the University of California San Francisco. He received dual bachelor degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Gil Labrucherie brings over 20 years of financial and operating leadership to his new and expanded role as Chief Operating Officer (COO). As the Company's COO, Mr. Labrucherie will continue to serve as Chief Financial Officer. As COO, he will be responsible for leading the Company's business operations, quality assurance and business development.  He will continue to provide oversight for the Company's finance and accounting teams, information technologies and services, and supply chain logistics.  Mr. Labrucherie has held several senior leadership positions with increasing responsibility at Nektar since 2005. Prior to joining Nektar, from October 2000 to September 2005, Mr. Labrucherie was Vice President of Corporate Development at E2open, Inc., where he was responsible for global corporate alliances and merger and acquisition activity. Prior to E2open, he was the Senior Director of Corporate Development at AltaVista Company, an Internet search company, where he was responsible for merger and acquisition transactions. Mr. Labrucherie received his J.D. from the University of California Berkeley, School of Law, where he was a member of the California Law Review and Order of the Coif, and received his bachelor degree from the University of California Davis.

Dr. Stephen Doberstein who previously served as Chief R&D Officer will now assume the role of Chief Scientific Fellow for the Company. In this newly-created role, Dr. Doberstein will serve as the lead scientific adviser to the Company in addition to continuing to provide scientific and development input and leadership on the NKTR-181 program.

John Nicholson, the company's current COO, is retiring.

"We thank John for his many years of service and his extensive contributions to Nektar.  John was instrumental in helping us build our company and we wish him well in his retirement," said Mr. Robin. 

About Nektar
Nektar Therapeutics is a research-based, biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover and develop innovative medicines to address the unmet medical needs of patients. Our R&D pipeline of new investigational medicines includes treatments for cancer, autoimmune disease and chronic pain. We leverage Nektar's proprietary and proven chemistry platform in the discovery and design of our new therapeutic candidates. Nektar is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional operations in Huntsville, Alabama and Hyderabad, India. Further information about the company and its drug development programs and capabilities may be found online at http://www.nektar.com.

Contact:

For Investors:
Vivian Wu of Nektar Therapeutics
628-895-0661

For Media:
Jodi Sievers of Nektar Therapeutics
415-482-5593 

Dan Budwick of 1AB
973-271-6085
dan@1abmedia.com 

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SOURCE Nektar Therapeutics