Autolomous and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult awarded £1.2m grant by UK Research and Innovation

This grant will fund a two-year project to digitise Process Analytical Technologies and accelerate industrial scale cell and gene therapy manufacturing

London, UK, 12 June 2023 - Autolomous Ltd, the market leading developer of critical manufacturing management systems for cell and gene therapies, and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult), an independent innovation and technology organisation specialising in the advancement of cell and gene therapies, announce they have been awarded a joint £1.2 million grant by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), as part of the “Digitalisation and Automation of Medicines R&D and Manufacture” funding competition.

Autolomous and the CGT Catapult will use the grant from Innovate UK, part of UKRI, to demonstrate the introduction of novel digital Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) into cell and gene therapy manufacturing in an industrial manufacturing facility. The project, entitled “Implementation & digitalisation of PAT to increase productivity, support rapid release and reduce costs of goods in industrial scale Cell & Gene Therapy (CGT) manufacturing”, will commence in June 2023 and be conducted at the CGT Catapult‘s Braintree Manufacturing Innovation Centre.

The overall objective of the project, aligned with Autolomous’ and the CGT Catapult’s aims, is to help advanced therapy developers and advanced technology providers expedite the process of introducing and integrating new systems and technologies into cell and gene therapy manufacturing, to drive a step change in manufacturing productivity and patient access.

The joint project is expected to deliver blueprints that will outline the key challenges and considerations for introducing new technologies into an industrial cell and gene therapy manufacturing environment. It is also expected to demonstrate the benefits of leveraging digitalisation to automate data collection in order to enable streamlined batch certification and release.

The funding competition by UKRI has been run to support digitalised and automated technology innovation and implementation for pharmaceutical development and manufacturing. The grant builds upon Autolomous’ previous two UKRI awards which were made through the “Made Smarter Innovation” challenge and through the Innovation Loan, thus significantly accelerating the development and traction of its AutoloMATE^® platform.

Alexander Seyf, Chief Executive Officer of Autolomous, said: “Partnering with the CGT Catapult will enable us to demonstrate how we can leverage Process Analytical Technologies to simplify, optimise and accelerate the manufacturing of cell and gene therapies. Our AutoloMATE^® platform will be deployed at­­­ CGT Catapult's Braintree Manufacturing Innovation Centre to deliver significant innovations, maximising manufacturing productivity and removing bottlenecks through automation and digitisation, while reducing the costs of goods to increase patient access to these life-saving therapies."

Matthew Durdy, Chief Executive of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, commented: “Digital technologies, like the AutoloMATE^® platform from Autolomous, have significant potential to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of manufacturing cell and gene therapies. This is vital to ensure gene therapy manufacturers can remain competitive in the race to bring these life-changing therapies to more patients.”