Our Mission

We want to help people living with debilitating conditions by developing non-addictive pain medications to reduce the reliance on opioids.

Established in 2017, we are a biopharmaceutical company focused on harnessing the therapeutic power of cannabinoids. We are developing prescription medicines through a regulatory pathway, with a particular emphasis on targeting chronic pain. These are debilitating conditions where people may find themselves addicted to opioids, experiencing severe side effects or finding their treatments don’t work anymore.  It is a market valued at nearly US$60bn and expected to rise to US$75bn by 2027.  Our aim is to develop non-addictive cannabinoid based medicines to meet this huge unmet need.

Through our innovative portfolio we aim to harness the power of our library of proprietary pharmaceutical cannabinoid derivatives to target the delivery of medicines that will be first in class or have exclusivity in the market.

What Makes Us Different?

Quality

Our Board and senior management team have extensive experience and diverse expertise across pharmaceutical operations, R&D, intellectual property, law, finance, public policy and regulation. Our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), a panel of world leading experts in all aspects of neuropathic pain, from basic research, through clinical development to regulatory approval, provides invaluable advice and guidance to help shape our strategy and keep it front foot.

Efficiency

Since our foundation in 2017, we have combined innovation with technical expertise to develop an efficient drug development strategy. This approach lowers both developmental risk and costs, and shortens the timeframe to commercialisation without compromising on the crucial safety and efficacy testing required for regulatory approval.

Pathway

We are developing a diverse pipeline of cannabinoid prescription medicines targeting chronic neuropathic pain conditions and cancer, with four active programmes already demonstrating the value of our proprietary library. OCT’s drug candidates are being developed as government licensed medicines that can be prescribed by physicians and reimbursed by insurers.

Environmental, Social, and Governance

We are deeply committed to our long term aim of ensuring sustainable financial returns for stakeholders and shareholders, and integrating responsible investment and operational decisions with ESG considerations.

Work Environment and General Policy

  • Our Company is an equal opportunity employer.

    At OCT we adhere to a policy, which enshrines that within the Company, and across its academic and business partners, responsible governance principles are followed. We ensure that people receive equal treatment, regardless of gender, gender-identity, age, disability, religion, belief, political views, sexual orientation, marital status, nationality or race, physical or mental health. We apply these principles to all areas of our business.

  • OCT believes that diversity is fundamental to the enrichment of our team and to the success of developing innovative therapeutic treatments. OCT is committed to creating a diverse environment, where the rights and differences of everyone, directly or indirectly operating within the Company, are valued.

  • OCT is committed to creating a positive, inclusive and welcoming work environment for its employees, job applicants, clients, customers, and affiliates. Consideration for others is a principle upheld and applied inside and outside of the workplace, which creates a safe and empowering work environment. OCT also ensures that its associates and collaborators adhere to the same approach by promoting and enabling similar policies.

Research Animal Care and Welfare

Our purpose is to research, develop and manufacture innovative pharmaceutical products. Due to scientific and regulatory reasons, animal studies remain a small but crucial part of our work to deliver safe and efficacious therapies.

  • The Company is actively engaging with partners, which develop and validate experimental methods that can provide alternatives to the use of animals in research. However, even though OCT, its scientific and business partners, and affiliates are eagerly adopting cutting-edge technology and coordinating efforts with legislators, regulators, and scientific institutions to completely eliminate the need for animal studies in their work, at present this is not possible, either due to lack of suitable alternatives, or because animal studies are required by regulatory authorities.

    The Company ensures that any collaborator is strictly following international and local legislation and regulatory guidelines and does not perform procedures which are deemed unethical or illegal under The Animal Welfare Act 2006. We go above and beyond in our compliance with regulatory requirements, as OCT also enforces a voluntary ban on the testing on great apes (i.e., chimpanzees) in research, even in countries where it is legal to do so.

    At OCT, we recognise the ethical responsibility to treat all animals respectfully, while striving to minimise their pain or distress, and to avoid it completely when possible. To this end, OCT is committed to following the high standards of internationally-recognised practices on the humane treatment of animals. We uphold and embrace the “3Rs” of animal research, namely:

    The replacement of animals when possible and/or acceptable;

    The reduction of the numbers of experiments and of animals required by each experiment; and,

    The minimisation of pain and distress, by means of refinement of animal studies procedures

    All animals used in OCT studies are specifically bred for research. In addition, all facilities where animals are bred, housed, or undergo procedures are accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (i.e., AAALAC-accredited) or are in the process of first accreditation and undergo regular visits by AAALAC. This ensures that all animal staff are competent, trained, continuously educated and assessed. OCT ensures that qualified veterinarians are available at all times for advice and help in the care of animals.

    At OCT we do not work with or test cosmetics, food, or drink supplements.

Environment, Health and Safety (EHS)

OCT affords great importance to supporting the wellbeing and health and safety of its employees and affiliates, and is continually looking for new and improved ways to maximise the positive impact that our work has on the environment and to best serve the needs of the global community.

  • We are strongly committed to conserving natural resources and striving for environmental sustainability, by ensuring that our facilities and the facilities of academic and contracted collaborators are operated to optimise energy usage; minimise waste production; and, protect nature and people.

    OCT uses hazardous, or potentially hazardous, chemical and biological materials at every stage of its research and development. These materials are necessary for researching and identifying the causes and the cures to diseases and in the discovery of new, life-changing medicines.

    The Company is, therefore, committed to ensuring that hazardous chemicals and biological materials are acquired, stored, transferred, modified, handled, and disposed of in a way that minimises any potential adverse effects to human health and to the environment. Their use must be based on both an understanding of the hazards they present and on the corresponding controls aimed at managing the risk of exposure.

    OCT complies with the local and national guidelines in all matters of EHS. The Company ensures its employees are knowledgeable and trained to identify and prevent risks and hazards associated with the use of substances hazardous to health and with any other aspect of its core business activities.

    In addition, OCT cooperates with its partners to make sure safe systems of work, local procedures, risk assessment, and relevant and continuous training are part of their standard operating procedures and that they take all reasonable steps to ensure all accidents, incidents, near-misses, and safety observations are reported and investigated in a timely fashion and that corrective measures are swiftly implemented.