Building a band-aid for cancer

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Hi friends! 👋

Biosapien didn’t start in a lab. It started in an operating room.

Founder Khatija Ali was on track to become a cardiothoracic surgeon — until a moment of intuition during a carotid dissection sparked an idea: what if drug delivery could be embedded into surgical tools themselves?

That question became Medichip™ — a 3D-printed, biodegradable chip that delivers chemotherapy locally, directly at the site of a tumour. No moving parts. No mechanical complexity. Just elegant, materials-led engineering that turns surgical failure into a second chance.

In January 2025, Biosapien extended its pre-Series A round to $7 million, with new backing from Golden Gate Ventures (its first MENA deployment), joining Global Ventures and Dara Holdings. A major vote of confidence in the team, the thesis — and the timing.

After seven years, 959 rejections, and a circuitous journey from San Diego to New York to Abu Dhabi – the momentum is finally real. Founded in 2018, Khatija and Biosapien’s story is as much about persistence as it is about innovation.

In this conversation, we unpack how Medichip works, what it means to build a biotech product for the operating table instead of the lab bench, and why Abu Dhabi’s infrastructure is becoming both a capital-efficient launchpad and a form of global biotech arbitrage.

We also dig into what’s still missing from the region’s biotech ecosystem — and why R&D, not capital, may be the biggest unlock.

It was really, really fun.

Here’s what we covered:

• 🧵 Why 3D-printed polymers could redefine localised drug delivery in oncology

• 🧠 How “surgical failure” became Biosapien’s point of entry — and emotional unlock

• 🌍 Why Abu Dhabi is becoming a global arbitrage zone for biotech trial speed and access

• 💸 What early-stage biotech liquidity actually looks like — and how secondaries are evolving

• 🔬 Why the real missing piece in MENA biotech isn’t money — it’s foundational science infrastructure

• 🧱 The Lego challenge: a hiring philosophy for emotionally intelligent deeptech teams

Let’s get into it 👇

Actionable insights 🧠 🛠️

If you only have a few minutes to spare, here’s what biotech founders, operators, and investors should take away from this conversation with Biosapien founder Khatija Ali.

Premium members get the full version of this article, plus a TLDR summary right here.

Okay, let’s dig into it 👇

From the research I’ve done, I believe one of your favourite books is Tuesdays with Morrie — so I’d like to kick things off, if that’s okay with you, with a quote from the book that I think really frames this conversation — one I’ve always loved myself: “Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hang on too long.”

It struck me as especially relevant to Biosapien, and to the path you’ve taken. You were on track for a successful career as a surgeon, and then things changed. You stepped away from the operating room. I’d love to learn more about how you arrived at that moment — and where the idea for Biosapien came from.

Yeah, definitely. First of all, I love that you love Tuesdays with Morrie. I think everyone should read that book — or at least watch the movie if they don’t like reading! I was maybe 13 or 14 when I first read it, and it had a huge impact on how I see the world and approach life.

So, I was in medical school at the time, on the path to becoming a surgeon. But that’s not actually how I started.

If I go back about 20 years, I was 16 and co-running an HR staffing company with my dad. I was also an undergrad studying philosophy and physics — just trying to figure out why we’re here, what our purpose is. I was obsessed with Nietzsche, Heidegger, all of that.

And then life threw a curveball. My dad — who wasn’t just my father but also my business partner, our CEO, and someone I had a deeply meaningful relationship with — was diagnosed with cancer.

That changed everything. My curiosity shifted from quantum mechanics and the things we can’t see or touch, to something much more tangible and urgent: cancer. How do we treat it? What does it mean?

You wouldn’t believe it — by the time I was 18, I could read X-rays and CT scans because I’d spent so many hours Googling, learning everything I could. My dad went through two rounds of chemo, surgery, radiation — the full bells and whistles — but unfortunately, the cancer came back with a vengeance.

Still, we didn’t give up. That’s just something built into us as a family. We took him to China, tried all kinds of treatments. But in the end, he passed away. It was a really rough time. I took a break from school, but eventually I jumped back in.

To circle back to your question: I originally entered med school thinking I’d become a family physician. But I fell madly in love with surgery — especially cardiothoracic surgery. I spent a lot of time with the team at Memorial Hermann and MD Anderson in Houston.

I actually had the chance to suture a coronary artery during a bypass as a medical student, which was surreal. I even got to start a couple of hearts. I still think about that.

At that point…

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