Octane Medical Group acquires Lonza's Personalized Medicine business—and the innovative Cocoon® cell‑therapy platform
KINGSTON, ON, March 4, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Octane Medical Group ("Octane") today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Lonza's Personalized Medicine business. For Octane, this is a strategically significant deal that comprises Lonza's controlling stake in the Cocoon® Platform – originally acquired from Octane in 2018 – alongside associated intellectual property (IP), workforce and existing customer contracts. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to take place by the end of Q1 2026.
The Cocoon Platform is an innovative automated production system for personalized cell therapies that manufactures cells in a precisely controlled bioreactor for applications in a diverse range of critical diseases and conditions. The transaction returns full stewardship of the Cocoon Platform to its inventors at Octane, who continued to advance the platform for regenerative medicine applications in orthopedics during its time under Lonza ownership.
The 2018 acquisition by Lonza of a controlling stake in Octane Biotech Inc. – the Octane venture behind the Cocoon Platform – was designed to accelerate clinical adoption of the technology in the cell therapy space. That acquisition helped establish Lonza's global Personalized Medicine business.
Octane remains committed to supporting existing and future customers developing cell therapy products that span applications from immunotherapy to regenerative medicine.
"We've innovated over the last three decades to advance our vision of regenerative medicine as the standard of care," said Timothy Smith, CEO and co-founder of Octane, a global leader in transformative regenerative medicine. "This acquisition – and bringing Cocoon back home – is a strategic step that accelerates our mission in a field that has advanced significantly, in no small part due to Lonza's personalized medicine initiatives."
Daniel Palmacci, Head of Specialized Modalities at Lonza, said: "The agreement reflects Lonza's strategic decision to focus on our core CDMO business, long-term growth priorities, and continued commitment to Bioscience. We are pleased to return full ownership of the Cocoon Platform to Octane, the original developers of the technology, and wish the Octane team all the best for its next phase of growth."
Octane's latest announcement follows an exciting 18-month period in which the company acquired the biologics business of its longstanding partner, B. Braun. That acquisition – which included TETEC AG in Germany and Aesculap Biologics, LLC. in the United States – brought cell therapy for articular cartilage repair to Octane and transformed the business into a multinational company with operations in Canada, U.S. and Europe.
Octane plans to leverage the Cocoon Platform to automate and accelerate manufacturing of cartilage repair implants, to improve consistency, quality and scalability. Octane has also intensified its research into AI-powered bioelectricity, with a focus on how bioelectrical stimulation can be harnessed for personalized medicine, including adaptation to the Cocoon Platform.
"Our strategy has always been to build complete, integrated solutions for personalized medicine," said Smith. "By uniting our regenerative medicine portfolio with the Cocoon Platform under one roof, we can offer customers and partners unmatched, innovation-driven capabilities to consistently and efficiently deliver cell therapy programs."
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 Innovation, 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.
Media Contact
Chris Miranda, Octane Medical Group, 1 613-634-6345, [email protected]
SOURCE Octane Medical Group
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