The high costs and complexity involved in manual manufacturing hinder the commercial viability of regenerative cell therapies. Octane Biotherapeutics seeks to remove these barriers by integrating its automated "Cocoon" production system with the well-established Novocart 3D and Novocart Inject platforms. SmartTRAK interviews Dr. Robert Spiro, CEO of Octane Biotherapeutics, to explore the company's strategic acquisition of assets from Aesculap Biologics and TETEC AG, and their plan to make a significant entry into the US Cartilage Repair Market. 

Click on the following video to learn more (09:37 min). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below.

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is David Shepard with SmartTRAK, and I'm here with Dr. Robert Spiro, the CEO of Octane Biotherapeutics. Thank you for taking the time, really appreciate it.

Robert Spiro: Good to see you, Dave. Thank you.

Yes, good to see you as well. Tell me a little bit about Octane and the acquisition of Novocart 3D and Novocart Inject by Octane.

RS: Sure. It's a journey. It really started about 2010, '11, when I first started with Aesculap Biologics in this space. And having been in the cartilage regenerative space through several companies, really knowing that the scale-up of any type of manual culture, cell culture system was a big challenge from a commercial standpoint. We have always been looking for ways to automate this process. We started some on our own, but I encountered this technology with Octane, which was back in 2011—started that collaboration to transfer our manual autologous chondrocyte culture process to an automated system. They had already really started on this Cocoon technology, but we started to marry it to the Novocart program that long ago.

The relationship was there, all along, with the divestiture away from B. Braun Aesculap as they restructured all of their portfolio. It was really a natural progression for Octane to step in and acquire the company, not only Aesculap Biologics, but our sister company in Germany, TETEC AG, that developed the same technology. Octane Biotherapeutics is fully global, both German as well as US. And so, the Cocoon technology is an important step for us to commercialize both Novocart 3D and Novocart Inject for a number of reasons, and anyone in the cell culture space understands that scale up, scale out of those kind of manual process is expensive. It's one of the things that drives the cost of these products so high. So, it's been a great collaboration, and the fact that they stepped in through the acquisition just made a lot of sense for everybody.

RS: The hallmark of this is why it's really ideal for autologous cells. It's this ...

Want to learn more about how integrating the automated "Cocoon" cell production system with Novocart 3D and Novocart Inject platforms will disrupt the complexity and costs of the US Cartilage Repair Market? Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of our interview with Dr. Robert Spiro, CEO of Octane Biotherapeutics, conducted by David Shepard, SmartTRAK GM/Sr Analyst, Orthobio & Regen.

Dr. Silverman discusses key takeaways from the AOFAS meeting, along with insights into his practice's shift to ASC settings and the major hurdles of fair reimbursement and staff recruitment.

Lance Silverman, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and foot and ankle specialist at Resurgens Orthopaedics in Roswell, GA, discusses trends and technologies in the Foot & Ankle Market in an interview with SmartTRAK.

Dr. Silverman discusses key takeaways from the recent American Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) Annual Meeting 2025, including the critical focus on avoiding revisions in total ankle replacements. He also addresses the role of technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) surgical planning tools and the instrumentation and jigs used in foot and ankle procedures. Dr. Silverman provides insights into the current landscape of his practice, including his most common procedures, his shift to ambulatory surgery center (ASC) settings, and the benefits and biggest challenges he faces—such as securing fair reimbursement and the struggle to recruit and retain talented team members amid rising living costs and salary expectations.

To listen to the interview, click on the following video (17:46 min). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below.

Interview

SmartTRAK: Hi, this is Natasha Weeks General Manager of Trauma and Extremities for SmartTRAK, and I'm here with Dr. Lance Silverman. We're going to take a deep dive into the foot and ankle segment. Dr. Silverman, thanks for being here and talking with me. And it was great to meet you at AOFAS in Savannah last month.

Dr. Lance Silverman: Nice to meet you there too, Natasha. It's a pleasure reconnecting.

Great. So reflecting on AOFAS and the meeting, for you, what was the most impactful message, whether that was clinical discussions you had, any specific posters or symposium talks or even products that you saw displayed? What did you believe coming off of that conference would really be most influential in the surgical management of foot and ankle?

LS: Well, there were a lot of conversations that people had both in lectures and outside of lectures on total ankle replacement. And total ankle replacement has been a growing increasingly performed procedure. And we have now started to see...

Want to learn more about the trends and technologies in the Foot & Ankle Market? Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of our interview with Lance Silverman, MD, conducted by Natasha Weeks, Managing Editor/Sr. Analyst Trauma & Extremities.

Conmed’s Lisa Donnelly, VP of Marketing for US Orthopedics, and Jeff Ott, Director of R&D, discuss their BioBrace technology in an interview with SmartTRAK at OSET 2025 in Las Vegas. 

Conmed’s Lisa Donnelly, VP of Marketing for US Orthopedics, and Jeff Ott, Director of R&D, sat down with SmartTRAK at the Orthopaedic Summit (OSET) 2025 Annual Meeting in Las Vegas (September 18–25, 2025) to discuss BioBrace and how its bioinductive technology sets it apart from the competition.

To find out more about Conmed and BioBrace, click on the following video (16:30 min). A link to download a complete transcript of the interview is also provided below. 

Hey everybody, it's Andy Knapik with SmartTRAK, here at Ortho Summit in Las Vegas, and I'm happy to be here at the ConMed booth, and joined by a good friend of mine, Lisa Donnelly, who's VP of Marketing for US Ortho for ConMed, and then also Jeff Ott, who is a director of R&D. Why don't you just start by talking to us about how you started with the company? I'm just going to let you go with the intro part.

Jeff Ott: Yes, happy to do that. I joined a small company called Biorez about six or seven years ago as a small startup. We were focused on trying to find ways to help with tendon and ligament healing, and we developed a product called the BioBrace, which now is a part of ConMed.

So, when was that acquired? That was about a year…

Lisa Donnelly: August of 2022.

Okay. So a few years now. Wow. It's flown.

JO: Yes, time has flown by. So the BioBrace, which we developed, we designed a product that is a bioinductive scaffold with strength. What we did is we created a product that can both reinforce a tendon or ligament repair, and it also can ...

Want to learn more about the BioBrace technology? Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of our exclusive interview with Conmed’s Lisa Donnelly, VP of Marketing for US Orthopedics, and Jeff Ott, Director of R&D, conducted by  Andy Knapik, SmartTRAK Sr. Analyst, Soft Tissue & Arthroscopic Technologies.

Stephania Bell, a licensed physical therapist, ESPN senior writer, and renowned sports injury analyst, brings together her clinical expertise and media experience, exploring how sports injuries in professional athletes intersect with those seen in the general population.

In a recent interview with SmartTRAK, Stephania Bell, a licensed physical therapist, ESPN senior writer and renowned sports injury analyst, brings together her clinical expertise and media experience, exploring how sports injuries in professional athletes intersect with those seen in the general population.

Click on the following video to watch the interview (43:14 min). For more details, interview topics by timecode and a link to download a complete transcript of the interview are provided below.

Interview Topics By Timecode:

02:00 Stephania’s background.

11:15 Work with Arthrex on the education side.

18:50 Where do med device companies fit in with prevention?

21:51 Patient insistance on being treated like the pros.

29:24 Public perception of sports injuries.

The connection between sports injuries in professionals and those in the broader population offers valuable insight into treatment and recovery trends. Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of our interview with Stephania Bell, ESPN senior writer and renowned sports injury analyst, conducted by  Andy Knapik, SmartTRAK Sr. Analyst, Soft Tissue & Arthroscopic Technologies.

Incoming ICRS President Dr. Christian Lattermann discusses the future of cartilage repair in an interview with SmartTRAK at the 2025 ICRS Global Congress in Boston. 

In this interview, SmartTRAK speaks with Christian Lattermann, MD, the incoming president of the International Cartilage Regeneration and Joint Preservation Society (ICRS), about the future of joint repair. He shares insights on emerging technologies, highlighting advances in mechanical correction, AI and biologics. Dr. Lattermann explains how AI helps clinicians understand causes of degeneration that were previously overlooked. He emphasizes the excitement surrounding orthobiologics, especially extracellular vesicles, as a novel approach to guiding biological responses. 

To find out more, click on the following video (22:22 min). Interview topics, organized by timecode, and a link to download a complete transcript of the interview are provided below.

Interview Outline by Timecode:

00:22 The three pillars of revolution: AI, biology, and mechanics.

06:36 Orthobiologics and extracellular vesicles: From "voodoo" to validated science.

10:25 Rethinking inflammation: fixing the "leak."

13:53 The collaborative alliance: industry, clinicians and researchers. 

16:46: Finding the niche: comparing the roles of MACI, Agili-C, and other technologies.

21:29: Conclusion: the future of individualized patient care.

Curious about the future of cartilage repair? Click the button below to download and read the complete transcript of our interview with the incoming ICRS president, Dr. Christian Lattermann, conducted by  Andy Knapik, SmartTRAK Sr. Analyst, Soft Tissue & Arthroscopic Technologies.

Raul Nogueira, MD, discusses the latest research and innovation in super-bore catheters for the treatment of AIS and the preliminary results from the MARRS pivotal trial in an interview with SmartTRAK.

In an interview with SmartTRAK, Raul Nogueira, MD, interventional and stroke neurologist at the University of Pittsburgh and chief of cerebrovascular medicine at the UPMC Stroke Institute, discusses the latest research and innovation in super-bore catheters for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke (AIS), including preliminary results from the MARRS pivotal trial that he recently presented at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS) 2025 Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN.

Dr. Nogueira highlights key results from the MARRS pivotal trial, which is evaluating Perfuze Medical’s Millipede super-bore 088 catheter, how the results compare to other super-bore pivotal trials and what factors contributed to MARRS’ high first-pass effect rate. 

Listen to the interview below (43:20 min) to learn more, including how Millipede performed in different parts of the brain and the status of research and innovation that is helping to drive growth in the US Market for Mechanical Thrombectomy. A link to download a full transcript of the interview is also provided below.

Interview by Timecode

00:06 Introduction, background about stroke thrombectomy and the evolution of technology and research in mechanical thrombectomy devices.

10:27 Discussion about the MARRS pivotal trial vs other trials and what contributed to the the high, first-pass effect rate.

18:44 Different studies use different definitions of first-pass effect and good reperfusion. Where does the MARRS study definition fit and compare to how other studies define good reperfusion?

21:47 Discussion about safety data for super-bore catheters vs the Millipede catheter, device designs and comparison to other types of thrombectomy devices.

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