Howard W. Robin
President and Chief Executive Officer

Howard Robin joined Nektar Therapeutics in January of 2007. He has more than 25 years of successful biopharmaceutical experience managing clinical development and commercial operations. Most recently, Mr. Robin served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sirna Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering RNAi-based therapies for serious diseases and conditions, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), hepatitis C, asthma, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Huntington's disease. During his tenure at Sirna, Mr. Robin successfully re-launched the company and created significant shareholder value that led to their acquisition by Merck for $1.1 billion.

Prior to Sirna, Mr. Robin spent 20 years at Berlex Laboratories, the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of the German pharmaceutical firm Schering AG. From 1991 to 2001, he served as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of their U.S. Therapeutics division and was responsible for the development of drugs, such as Betaseron® (Interferon beta-1b) for multiple sclerosis and Fludara® (fludarabine phosphate) for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, generating annual global sales in excess of $800 million. He also served as a member of the Executive Committee. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Finance and Business Development and CFO of Berlex. Earlier in his career, Mr. Robin was a senior associate with Arthur Andersen and Co.

Mr. Robin holds a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

Louis Drapeau
Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Lou Drapeau joined Nektar Therapeutics in January of 2006. He has over 30 years experience with Arthur Andersen including 19 years as an Audit Partner in Andersen’s Northern California Audit and Business Consulting practice and 12 years as Managing Partner. Most recently, Mr. Drapeau held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (Nasdaq: BMRN) from August 2002 to August 2005. He was also BioMarin’s Acting Chief Executive Officer from August 2004 to May 2005.

Mr. Drapeau successfully led BioMarin during its Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical studies with a lead product Phenoptin for treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU), an inherited metabolic disease, whilst simultaneously filing marketing drug applications in the US and Europe for Naglazyme, an enzyme replacement therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis VI (MPS 6). MPS 6 is an inherited, life-threatening lysosomal storage disorder. In addition, he has successfully implemented Sarbanes Oxley requirements in public US companies.

Mr. Drapeau holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.B.A., both from Stanford University in California.

Nevan Elam
Senior Vice President, Head of the Pulmonary Business Unit

Nevan Elam joined Nektar in January 2005 as Senior Vice President, Corporate Operations and General Counsel. In this role he ran one of Nektar's strategic business units as well as all legal affairs of the company. Previously, Elam was Chief Financial Officer of E2open, Inc., a technology corporation with operations in six countries. Elam was initially responsible for corporate and business development before he became E2open's Chief Financial Officer and ran the company's infrastructure including finance, legal, human resources and facilities. Prior to his management roles at E2open, Elam was a corporate partner in the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he represented corporations in the life sciences as well as emerging growth companies in other industries.

Mr. Elam holds a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School in Cambridge Massachusetts, and a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University in Washington D.C.

Hoyoung Huh, M.D., Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Business Development and Marketing

Hoyoung Huh, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Marketing, joined the company in March 2005. A member of the Nektar Executive Committee, Dr. Huh leads major commercial functions for the company, including business development, alliance management, new product planning, product and corporate marketing. He also heads key alliances for Nektar and is chairman of the Exubera Joint Development and Commercialization Committee with Pfizer. He is a frequent speaker on topics of licensing strategy, portfolio management and biotechnology commercialization. Previously, Dr. Huh was a partner at McKinsey and Company, where he focused primarily in the biopharmaceutical sector in the US, Europe and Asia with areas of expertise in licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and innovative product launches. He currently serves on the Board of BayBio, a biotechnology industry association.

Dr. Huh holds an M.D. from Cornell University, a Ph.D. in Genetics/Cell Biology from the Cornell University/Sloan Kettering Institute, and an A.B. in Biochemistry from Dartmouth College.

David Johnston, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Research and Development

David Johnston joined Nektar in January 2004 as Senior Vice President of Research and Development. Dr. Johnston has more than 25 years of broad experience in the international pharmaceutical industry. Prior to Nektar, he was Vice President and Chief Development Officer at Control Delivery Systems Inc., a company engaged in improving traditional treatments with innovative approaches to drug delivery. Previously, he was the Executive Vice President and President of AAI International (now AAI development services), a leading company in contract pharmaceutical R&D. He was also Executive Vice President of Drug Development and Chief Scientific Officer of Oread Inc. From 1979 to 1997, Dr. Johnston held various positions in pharmaceutical development at Sterling Winthrop/Sanofi Winthrop Inc. In his last position at Sanofi research, he was the Vice President of Pharmaceutical Product Development for Sanofi R&D in the USA and Deputy Group Director of Product Development Worldwide.

Dr Johnston received a B.Sc. in Chemistry (1st class) and a Ph.D. from St Andrews University, Scotland, and he completed postdoctoral studies at the Max Planck Institute for Medicinal research in Heidelberg, Germany. He has over 40 publications and has presented on numerous occasions in Europe and the U.S.

Gil M. Labrucherie
General Counsel and Secretary

Gil M. Labrucherie joined Nektar in September 2005 as Vice President of Corporate Legal. Prior to joining Nektar, from October 2000 to September 2005, 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. Labrucherie began his career as an associate in the corporate practice of the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Graham & James (DLA Piper Rudnick).

Labrucherie received his Juris Doctorate from University of California Boalt Hall School of Law, where he was a member of the California Law Review and Order of the Coif, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California Davis.

Truc Le
Senior Vice President of Operations and Corporate Quality

Truc Le joined Nektar with twenty-six years of extensive experience in worldwide regulatory affairs, quality systems management, and business effectiveness. He is the co-founder of MLH Group, a consulting firm specializing in U.S. and international regulatory affairs, quality management, business excellence for medical devices, and in vitro diagnostics. Prior to his consulting work, Mr. Le was worldwide vice president of regulatory compliance and quality systems for Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Le has a BS in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA in Management, and is a certified Quality Systems Regulation assessor and trainer at AAMI/FDA.

John S. Patton, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

John S. Patton is a world-renowned expert in the delivery of peptides and proteins. Before co-founding Inhale Therapeutic Systems, he led the drug delivery group at Genentech, Inc., where he demonstrated the feasibility of systemic delivery of large molecules through the lungs.

Prior to joining Genentech, Inc., Dr. Patton was a tenured professor at the University of Georgia. He has published a wide range of scientific articles and has presented his work in national and international arenas. Dr. Patton received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of California, San Diego, and held post-doctoral positions in biomedicine at Harvard Medical School and the University of Lund in Sweden.

Dorian Rinella
Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities

Dorian Rinella joined Nektar in April 2007 as Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities. Her experience spans 16 years at biotechnology companies leading strategic and tactical aspects of human resource functions, including managing issues surrounding mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Nektar, Rinella headed the human resource programs at Sirna, where she was part of the diligence team during the acquisition process by Merck. She was also part of the team that started SUGEN and transitioned it from start-up through two acquisitions initially by Pharmacia and then by Pfizer Inc. In addition, she served as Vice President, Human Resources and Facilities at Kosan Biosciences and Corgentech/Anesiva.

Christopher J. Searcy, Pharm.D.
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development

Christopher J. Searcy joined Nektar Therapeutics in 1996. Previously, Dr. Searcy was the vice president of business development of GalaGen, Inc., an oral antibody company focusing on human gastrointestinal tract infections. From 1985 to 1995, Dr. Searcy held various positions in registration and regulatory affairs, clinical research, and marketing at Pfizer, Inc. In his last position at Pfizer, he was the director of licensing and development.

Dr. Searcy holds a B.S. in pharmacy and a Pharm. D., both from the University of Minnesota, and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School.

David Tolley
Senior Vice President and General Manager, Nektar Alabama

David A. Tolley brings 30 years of experience to Nektar and extensive expertise in drug development, business management, GMP manufacturing, pharmaceutical process improvement, and team building. Prior to joining Nektar, Mr. Tolley was Sr. Vice President of Pharmaceutics at aaiPharma, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company with a portfolio of commercial products and a contract research organization (CRO) offering full service chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) drug development. Mr. Tolley has also held senior management positions with Oread, Inc., a full-service CMC drug development company, Immulogic Pharmaceuticals Corporation, and the Dow Chemical Company (Merrell Dow). Mr. Tolley received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Tim Warner
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs

Tim Warner joined Nektar in March 2007 as Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs. He is a seasoned corporate communications professional with a background in investor relations, government affairs and corporate communications. Prior to joining Nektar, Warner served as a Senior Vice President with Hill & Knowlton, where he led a large portion of the firm's U.S. healthcare practice, focusing on clients in the biopharmaceutical, medical device, consumer products and clinical research industries. Previously, Warner served as the Director of Corporate Communications for Immunex Corporation and Senior Vice President, Marketing, for Widevine Technologies, both based in Seattle, Washington. Prior to his work in the private sector, Warner worked in the U.S. Congress, primarily in his position as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the current chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Mr. Warner holds a B.A. from The American University in Washington, D.C.