Speaker Profile
CEO, Nkarta Tx
Biography
Mr. Hastings is the Chief Executive Officer of Nkarta and a member of the company's board of directors. Prior to joining Nkarta in 2018, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of successive biopharmaceutical companies including Chairman and CEO of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, President and CEO of QLT, President and CEO of Axys Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Celera Corporation, President of Chiron BioPharmaceuticals, a division of Chiron Corporation, and President and CEO of LXR Biotechnology. Mr. Hastings also held a series of management positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Corporation, including President of Genzyme Therapeutics Europe as well as President, Genzyme Global Therapeutics. Earlier in his career,Mr. Hastings served as Vice President, Marketing and Sales and General Manager, Europe for Synergen (acquired by Amgen in 1994) and held a series of marketing and sales management positions with Hoffmann-La Roche.
He is currently chair of the board of directors at Specific Biologics and a member of the board of directors of EnGene. Hastings has served on the board of directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) for more than two decades, chairing the board from 2021 to 2023 after twice serving as BIO vice chair. Previously, Mr. Hastings led as a Director or Chairman of the board of directors of multiple biopharmaceutical companies, including Pacira Biosciences, ViaCyte (acquired by Vertex in 2022), Proteon Therapeutics, Relypsa (acquired by Galenica in 2016), Proteolix (acquired by Onyx Pharmaceuticals in 2010), and ViaCell (acquired by Perkin-Elmer in 2007). He is also the chair of the board of Youth Rally, Inc, a patient advocacy organization he co-founded and serves on the board of the Termeer Institute.
Mr. Hastings received a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2027 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Cindy Perettie, Kite Pharma
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Katy Rezvani, MD Anderson (Luminary)
• David Miklos, Stanford (Luminary)
• Frederick Locke, Moffitt Cancer Center (Luminary)
Featured Speakers
• Katy Rezvani, MD Anderson
• David Miklos, Stanford
• Frederick Locke, Moffitt Cancer Center
• Arie Belldegrun, Allogene Therapeutics
• Paul Hastings, Nkarta Therapeutics
• Priti Hegde, Kite Pharma
• Andrew Scharenberg, Umoja Biopharma
• Brett Staahl, Scribe Therapeutics
• Marcela Maus, Mass General Brigham / Harvard
• Antoni Ribas, UCLA
• Saul Priceman, USC
• Sabine Heitzeneder, Stanford
Off-the-Shelf Cell Therapies
NK, iPSC, and allogeneic T cells: what wins beyond autologous CAR-T.
AI in Cell Therapy: Research to Commercialization
How AI is reshaping discovery, product design, manufacturing, and clinical translation.
The Bottleneck: Manufacturing at Scale
Capacity, automation, cost of goods, and the realities of getting engineered cells to patients.
In Vivo Delivery: The Make-or-Break Layer
Targeting the right tissue safely enough to make in vivo engineering real.
Why Cell Therapies Fail in Solid Tumors and What Works
The microenvironment, antigen escape, and programs showing real responses.
Approved to Effective
Real-world outcomes, access, and what CAR-T still gets wrong after approval.
PMWC Hall of Impact
Previous Speakers Include
Nobel laureates, technology founders, regulators, CEOs and scientific pioneers who have taken the PMWC stage.
