Chulani Karunatilake — Senior Vice President-CMC Biologics (Pharmaceutical Development & Manufacturing) at Nektar Therapeutics

Dr. Chulani Karunatilake, Ph.D. has been Senior Vice President-CMC Biologics (Pharmaceutical Development & Manufacturing) at Nektar Therapeutics since January 2018 and served as its Vice President-CMC Biologics (Pharmaceutical Development & Manufacturing) from May 23, 2017 to January 2018. Dr. Karunatilake joined Nektar in 2011 as Vice President of Pharmaceutical Development & Manufacturing. In this role, Dr. Karunatilake is responsible for Biologics CMC and has global responsibilities for Analytical, Bioanalytical & Quality Control functions. Prior to Nektar, Dr. Karunatilake served as a Director, Process Development at Amgen-Fremont where he was responsible for the Analytical and Purification Development departments and led the Quality by Design (QbD) task force in the FDA pilot program. Prior to Amgen, Dr. Karunatilake was Senior Director responsible for Analytical Development and Quality Control functions at Chiron/Novartis. Prior to Chiron-Novartis, he was at Genentech where he held management roles of increasing responsibility in Analytical Technologies and Quality Control areas. Dr. Karunatilake has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry having contributed to several successful biotechnology drug development and registration efforts at Amgen, Chiron/Novartis and Genentech. Dr. Karunatilake received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Chemistry from University of Illinois. He received his B.Sc. (Honors) degree in Chemistry from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.