How this Kingston-based med-tech company is improving the standard of care in regenerative medicine, from their intrepid approach to research to their company structure.
The seeds for Octane Medical Group — a Kingston-based medical technology company — were planted long before the business was founded. In 1988, Tim Smith, who co-founded Octane with fellow engineer Ian Grant, led a commercial biomaterials research collaboration with the University of Toronto and Queen’s University, at a time when industry-academic partnerships weren’t as common as they are now. The result of that partnership was a patented biomaterial formulation used in osteoporosis diagnostics. In the years that followed, Smith worked with many other medical innovation startups, from their discovery phases through to practical application.
At the same time, Grant was building his career in manufacturing. He gained experience across sectors, in the food and drug industries, the plastics industry and more, before partnering with Smith to found Octane in 2007. “Octane is the culmination of many varied experiences — mine, Ian’s and those of other team members,” says Smith, “and experience has taught us that we are good at development and manufacturing, so we focus our attention there. We then partner with multinationals for market access.” This is the backbone of how Octane, which specializes in regenerative medicine, has been structured since its inception. Octane is split into six operating companies, with their own resources, innovations, patent portfolios and commercial partners. This allows the team at Octane to focus on what they do best — develop game-changing biotechnology — without the added layer of an in-house salesforce.
At the same time, Grant was building his career in manufacturing. He gained experience across sectors, in the food and drug industries, the plastics industry and more, before partnering with Smith to found Octane in 2007. “Octane is the culmination of many varied experiences — mine, Ian’s and those of other team members,” says Smith, “and experience has taught us that we are good at development and manufacturing, so we focus our attention there. We then partner with multinationals for market access.” This is the backbone of how Octane, which specializes in regenerative medicine, has been structured since its inception. Octane is split into six operating companies, with their own resources, innovations, patent portfolios and commercial partners. This allows the team at Octane to focus on what they do best — develop game-changing biotechnology — without the added layer of an in-house salesforce.
To ensure that innovation is always at the forefront, one of the companies — aptly called Octane Innovations — acts as a think-tank to the rest of the Octane Group of Companies. “This group works to supply ideas to existing Octane entities, but also to spin off new entities,” says Smith. One company, Octane EXO, which works with advanced materials for spinal reconstruction and bone grafts, was the result of an Octane Innovations initiative. There is also another potential spin-off company in the works, in the space of bioelectricity.
Octane is split into six operating companies, with their own resources, innovations, patent portfolios, and commercial partners
At the end of the day and with every Octane company, standard of care is core to what they do. “We don’t do research for research’s sake,” says Smith. “We develop bold, untraditional products, and we partner with companies who are willing to take risks to bring our products to market. But we aim to systematically think through the standard of care and identify the gaps or pain points, and ponder, ‘What would happen if….’” It’s safe to say that at Octane, it’s innovation in action, for the greater good.
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