“From the start, our corporate mission has been to make regenerative medicine the standard of care. We continue to be true to this goal, and it’s the key reason why we pursued this opportunity.” - Octane Medical Group CEO Timothy Smith.

The orthobiologics platform currently includes two products: NOVOCART 3D, which implants a collagen-based matrix scaffold seeded with cartilage cells into the defective area, and NOVOCART Inject, an injectable mixture of cartilage cells and PEG-albumin-hyaluronic acid hydrogel. 

“Octane previously partnered with B. Braun for more than 10 years to scale up production of living-tissue orthopedic implants" said Timothy Smith, CEO and co-founder of Octane, a global leader in regenerative medicine with the most advanced technologies in cell therapy, spinal implants, medical imaging and bioelectricity. "This acquisition brings the NOVOCART autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) technology for articular cartilage repair into the innovation portfolio at Octane, giving the company full ownership of the NOVOCART value chain – from design development, clinical trials and manufacturing through to sales, distribution and clinical use."

Pivotally, the acquisition also allows Octane to leverage the automated cell production capabilities of its Cocoon bioreactor to expand and accelerate manufacturing of NOVOCART articular cartilage implants. This positions Octane to become the first ACI therapy provider to significantly reduce production costs, while increasing consistency, quality, and scalability thanks to Cocoon’s automated manufacturing platform.

Cocoon, a first-of-its-kind automated production system for personalized cell therapies, manufactures cells in a precisely controlled bioreactor for applications in a diverse range of critical diseases and conditions. Octane’s goal is to transition NOVOCART from its current manual production process to full automation with Cocoon.

“The combination of NOVOCART and Cocoon will lead to improved quality, greater capacity and operational flexibility, plus higher product margins,” said Ian Grant, COO and co-founder of Octane. “This will, in turn, further enable efficient international turnkey expansion, particularly into the European Union and North American markets.”

Dr. Jens von Lackum, a member of the B. Braun Board and chairman of the Executive Board of Aesculap AG, stated that the complete sale of the orthobiologics business to Octane is part of Aesculap’s strategic focus on the Operating Room to provide innovative surgical solutions for our key customers.

"We are proud of the impressive achievements our highly skilled employees have realized over the past years and are grateful to have had the opportunity to protect and improve the health of patients in need of cartilage repair.  Moving forward, we are pleased that the product and production know-how is now bundled at Octane, forming the basis for even more patient-centric innovations. With this in mind, we believe that our long-term partner Octane and its employees have a strong potential to further scale the business and make NOVOCART products available to even more patients."

“With over 120,000 square feet (11,000 square meters) across three sites located in Canada, U.S.A and Germany, Octane will be able to leverage shared efficiencies for product development, GMP (good manufacturing practice) production, regulatory submissions and clinical rollout,” said Smith. “We are well positioned, thanks to our multidisciplinary team, to commercialize our portfolio in multiple key market sectors. Driving forward, Octane will continue to focus on stellar talent, exceptional science and game-changing products.”

ABOUT OCTANE MEDICAL GROUP

Headquartered in Ontario, Canada with locations in the United States and Europe, Octane is a global group of companies with the most advanced bioprocesses, biomaterials and bioreactors for regenerative medicine. We power transformative healthcare with game-changing technologies that we develop and turn into proof-of-concept platforms. These innovations are advanced into production within our market-specific Octane ventures and then launched for commercialization with our global partners. Today, our Octane ventures include Octane Clinical Systems, Octane Orthobiologics, Octane Exo, Octane Biotech and Octane Biotherapeutics (BioTx).

At Octane, our goal is to make regenerative medicine the standard of care. For more information, visit www.octaneco.com.