Cell and gene therapy matures: Streamlining and smoothing the path to commercialization

Matthew Hewitt is currently the Head of Clinical Development for the Personalized Medicine (PerMed) Initiative within Lonza. The PerMed Initiative has a cell and gene therapy focus working to alleviate pain-points in commercializing cell therapies. One of Matt’s responsibilities is the Cocoon Platform, a closed, automated, scalable cell therapy manufacturing platform which relieves many cell therapy manufacturing difficulties.

Prior to joining Lonza, Matt led the Tumor Immunology and Microenvironment program at Bellicum Pharmaceuticals which concentrated on improving cell therapy efficacy in solid tumors. Matt led the Immunology group at the University of Pennsylvania’s Gene Therapy Program under Dr. James Wilson managing numerous AAV gene therapy programs. Matt received his Ph.D. in Biophysics & Physiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed his post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University.