Meet Matthew Durdy

Matthew leads the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, the UK innovation organization focused on accelerating the development, manufacture, and adoption of advanced therapies. His leadership has centered on strengthening the conditions the sector needs to grow: increasing the flow of new therapies and technologies, lowering cost of goods, expanding manufacturing capacity, and improving uptake by healthcare systems.

Under Matthew’s leadership, CGT Catapult has opened Digital and Automation Testbeds designed to accelerate step changes in the productivity of cell and gene therapy manufacturing. These facilities are supporting collaborators as they apply automation, digital tools, and robotics to reduce cost and improve scalability. He has also helped make the economic case for advanced therapies, including co-authoring work on how to quantify the broader value of healthcare innovations to patients, the NHS, and the economy.

“Across the whole field, volume is too low and so the cost of development, manufacture, and use is too high, and no single therapy can fix that on its own. Bringing the system into balance means working on four things at once: new therapeutics, lower cost of goods, automated manufacturing that scales, and easier uptake in the healthcare system.”