Leadership Team
Robert Butchofsky
Currently the Chief Executive Officer of Mati Therapeutics, Bob Butchofsky is the former President and CEO of QLT Inc. He served as interim CEO from September of 2005, becoming CEO and a Board member in February 2006 and continuing in that capacity until August 2012. During his tenure as CEO, Mr. Butchofsky modified the company’s strategy and focused the company in ophthalmology resulting in the divestment of non-core assets – generic dermatology business (2006), Aczone (2008), Atrigel (2008), the corporate headquarters building and land (2008) and Eligard (2009). Part of the ocular focused strategy resulted in the acquisition of innovative new technologies including a synthetic retinoid program from Retinagenix for inherited retinal diseases and the punctal plug drug delivery technology from ForSight Labs. Mr Butchofsky was also successful in obtaining US commercial rights for Visudyne from Novartis and launched a US commercial team to promote the brand to ophthalmologists.
Mr. Butchofsky joined QLT in 1998 as Associate Director, Ocular Marketing and was appointed Vice President, Marketing and Sales Planning in September 2001. Mr. Butchofsky was promoted to Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales Planning in early 2005, responsible for QLT's marketing of the pharmaceutical products, Visudyne® and Eligard®, including managing significant corporate partnerships, as well as corporate strategy development and investor relations activities. From June 1990 to August 1998, Mr. Butchofsky was employed at Allergan Inc., a pharmaceutical company, where he built an extensive background with ocular pharmaceutical products and Botox®, including sales, health economics, worldwide medical marketing, and product management. Prior to joining Allergan Inc., Mr. Butchofsky spent several years managing clinical trials at the Institute for Biological Research and Development. Mr. Butchofsky also serves as Chairman of the Board of Superna Life Sciences Inc., a privately-held pharmaceutical company located in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is also Chairman of the Board of CDRD Ventures – the commercial arm of the Center for Drug Research and Development. Mr. Butchofsky has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from the University of Texas and a Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University.
Christopher A. Muller
Chris Muller is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Mati Therapeutics, and previously held the position of Chief Commercial Officer at QLT Inc. Prior to joining QLT, Mr. Muller was responsible for several business units at Abbott Medical Optics including Vice President of Eye Care, Medical Marketing and the Refractive Business Unit. Major global brand responsibility included VISX® and IntraLase® laser platforms, multipurpose contact lens solutions, artificial tear development and commercialization, plus multiple ophthalmic surgical products. From June 1989 to July 2005, Mr. Muller was employed at Allergan Inc., a pharmaceutical and device company, where he built an extensive background with ocular pharmaceutical and surgical products plus Botox®, including sales, health economics, worldwide medical marketing, and product management. His positions ranged from sales and sales management to Vice President of Medical Marketing. He was responsible for multiple products in glaucoma, anti-infective, anti-inflammatory, dermatology and neurology categories including Alphagan®, Zymar®, Ocuflox®, Acular®, Lumigan®, Pred Forte®, Botox®, Refresh® and Tazorac®. Chris also participated in several glaucoma product launches including the Alphagan and Lumigan launches while at Allergan and he has extensive commercial experience in all major markets in ophthalmology. Mr. Muller has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Whittier College and a Masters of Business Administration from Whittier/Pepperdine University.
Deepank Utkhede
Deepank is currently the Chief Scientific Officer of Mati Therapeutics. Mr. Utkhede is the former Senior Director of Pharmaceutical Development at QLT Inc. Mr. Utkhede has over 30 years of experience in formulation and process development with a proven track record for solving difficult to manufacture products within aggressive timelines, and for developing robust and commercially scalable manufacturing processes. Mr. Utkhede has worked with various dosage forms -- topicals (dermal and ocular), orals (capsules and liquid), parenterals (aseptic and terminally sterilized) – and drug/device combination products with extensive experience in the area of lyophilization, liposome and emulsion technology. Mr. Utkhede has also been involved in the critical review of CMC section for potential business development in-licensing opportunities. Mr Utkhede will lead efforts for new formulations work on the punctal plug drug delivery platform and will be responsible for commercial scale- up and manufacturing of Phase III and commercial supplies of the first product, latanoprost. Mr. Utkhede has a Master of Science in Biochemistry from the University of British Columbia.
Cameron Nelson
Cam is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Mati Therapeutics. Mr. Nelson worked at QLT from 2000 to 2012, the last seven years as CFO of the company. Cam has over 30 years of financial and managerial experience, including strategic planning, financial planning & analysis, treasury, accounting, risk management, and operations analysis. In addition to his experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, Cam also spent six years in various financial roles in the toy industry, including three years at Mattel Inc. Cam has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia and a Masters in Business Administration with honors from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.