Orgenesis announces name change of Morgenesis business unit to Octomera

Name change and rebranding reflects progression of the business and focus on changing the paradigm of CGT production

Germantown, Maryland, July 11, 2023 – Orgenesis Inc. (NASDAQ: ORGS) (“Orgenesis” or the “Company”), a global biotech company working to unlock the full potential of cell and gene therapies (CGT) at the point of care, today announced the name change of the POC Services business from Morgenesis to Octomera, effective June 30, 2023, to reflect the growth and focus on providing advanced cell and gene therapy (CGT) services, facilities, and technologies. Morgenesis was originally formed in 2022 to separate Orgenesis’ existing POCare Service and supply solutions from the other operations of Orgenesis. A new Octomera website and rebranding will be unveiled throughout the second half of 2023.

In addition, the Company announced that MM OS Holdings, L.P. (“MM”), an affiliate of Metalmark Capital Partners (“Metalmark”), a leading private equity firm with extensive expertise in the healthcare sector, has deployed additional funds into Octomera. The capital from the MM investment is for the continued development of POCare Centers with a focus on expanding in the US market.

Octomera is focused on changing the paradigm of centralized cell and gene therapy (CGT) production to produce treatments in a decentralized point-of-care manner. Octomera provides the supply and development of decentralized services utilizing the POCare Network of POCare Centers deployed independently and in partnership with academic institutes, hospitals, and industry partners. POCare Centers within the Network are harmonized and standardized by Octomera.

“The centralized biotech manufacturing model simply does not translate to efficient or cost-effective CGT production within the clinical development stage, and even less so for approved products,” said Vered Caplan, CEO of Orgenesis. “We have been working for years to reduce the complexity and cost of development and commercialization of CGT products via decentralization, and this rebranding as Octomera with the support of Metalmark marks a major milestone for both Orgenesis and Octomera. As a result of our efforts, investments, and foresight, we have now built a broad and growing POCare Network of centers across the US, Europe, and other regions, where our services can be rapidly scaled up to meet the growing demand across the industry.”

“Our strong process development capabilities coupled with our growing number of POCare sites enable us to decentralize the supply of cell and gene therapies. By initially developing a robust production process programmed into our proprietary, agnostic, and flexible OMPULs (Octomera Mobile Production Units and Labs), the production can be efficiently scaled and transferred to various locations in the network,” Caplan continued. “Through these steps, we are clearly executing on our strategy to make CGT products and services more accessible, affordable, and available to patients than traditional centralized models of CGT production.”

POCare centers and OMPULs are designed to standardize CGT production processes for quality and regulatory compliance with the ability to scale to full cGMP processing across the globe at a lower cost. A GMP team with significant practical experience oversees the centers and OMPULs and works to implement advanced quality management and IT solutions. Uniquely, OMPULs can be deployed and operational in 2-3 months within an existing structure or in available outdoor space, and production capacity can easily be scaled via additional units. The interior can be purpose-built to include GMP-compliant production space, with options for quality control labs and warehouse spaces.

“Metalmark is pleased to support the launch of Octomera as the company reiterates its focus on providing standardized, decentralized, cost-effective development and production of CGT products,” said Howard Hoffen, Chairman and CEO of Metalmark Metalmark.

To learn more about Octomera, connect with the team at contact@octomera.com.