CEO MONTHLY / NOVEMBER 2025 18 ounded in 2018, BioSapien is a pioneer of minimally invasive drug delivery platforms, on a mission to advancing human wellbeing through innovative solutions. Ultimately, the company strives to position itself as a leader in biocompatible, minimally invasive cancer treatments, improving patient lives and transforming the landscape of healthcare through prioritised patient wellbeing and reduced healthcare costs. Driven by this mission, BioSapien aims to treat one million patients by 2035. To achieve this ambition, BioSapien has developed MediChip™, a revolutionary 3D-printed drug delivery chip designed for localised and sustained treatment of cancer. This groundbreaking platform is applied to a tumour directly during surgery or through a minimally invasive procedure, such as laparoscopic surgery or outpatient treatment. MediChip delivers the same chemotherapy that patients receive in their bloodstream, whilst minimising the debilitating side effects: hair loss, lowered health, and immobilisation. This innovation is an exceptional step forward for the healthcare landscape, where cancer treatment is often effective yet detrimental to the patient. Chemotherapy is a life-altering treatment with a regimented schedule, often disrupting patients’ lives and taking a significant toll on their physical and emotional wellbeing. Alongside targeting cancerous cells, the treatment harms healthy tissue and is notorious for leaving patients suffering from nausea, fatigue, hair loss, and infections. For many patients, uneven cancer growth makes surgery a risky proposition; the Khatija Ali: The Brain Behind The Lifechanging MediChip The traditional use of chemotherapy is an effective method of treating cancer, but its aggressive approach often comes at the cost of harsh side effects that can be detrimental to a patient’s wellbeing. Based in Abu Dhabi, BioSapien is one company seeking to address this challenge through its proprietary MediChip™, a lifechanging treatment option designed for localised and sustained cancer treatment. At the helm of this healthcare revolution is Founder Khatija Ali, CEO and the innovative mind behind BioSapien’s mission. We took a closer look at this incredible innovation below, as Khatija is celebrated in the Most Influential CEO Awards 2025. physical disturbance caused by surgery can increase the metastatic potential of the tumour, leading to worse outcomes. This is particularly true for aggressive forms of cancer, such as triple negative breast cancer, where delays between diagnosis and surgery can result in tumour upstaging and the increased risk of cancer progression. These limitations impair the treatment processes for healthcare professionals, limiting the tools they can use to fight specific cancers. Comparatively, MediChip is a local treatment option that can be directly attached to any tissue. The tiny patch delivers targeted drugs directly to tumours, working with any combination of up to five drugs, easing symptoms, aiding surgery, and empowering patients to live better. This methodology minimizes the side effects often associated with systemic chemotherapy and has been proven to shrink tumours, making surgery a potentially viable option for more patients. These benefits mean that patients can experience a significant improvement to their overall wellbeing – throughout their treatment and beyond. The versatility of MediChip means that the technology has the potential to tread a wide range of lower gastrointestinal and solid tumours worldwide, including patients in Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa region. MediChip’s direct, minimally invasive approach ensures a higher concentration of the drug within the tumour microenvironment, which effectively reduces the required dosage whilst maintaining efficacy. In 2020, $208.9 billion was spent on cancer care in America alone, and $246 billion is expected to be spent by 2030. The current market climate offers BioSapien significant opportunities for success. This exceptional mission has been led by Khatija Ali, Founder and CEO of BioSapien and inventor of the MediChip. Before founding BioSapien, Khatija earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy at McMaster University, and a Doctor of Medicine in Medicine from the Windsor University School of Medicine. Her professional career has been driven by a deep love for medical education, demonstrated through more than four years spent as a medical educator, during which Khatija has steered over ten medical graduates into successful residencies. Since the inception of BioSapien, Khatija was granted a $250,000 NSF non-dilutive grant for further development of the patented technology and has successfully raised capital totalling $2.5 million for MediChip. She has effectively established both herself and BioSapien as key players within the biotech sector: being named Rising Star CEO at Boston LifeSci and featured in the Top 25 CEOs in BioTech from TechCEOs, as well as winning multiple pitch competitions worldwide, including Get in the Ring. Building on this remarkable momentum, Khatija has received further recognition for her exceptional contributions to the sector through the title of Abu Dhabi’s Most Influential CEO 2025 in Drug Delivery Innovation. F Contact: Khatija Ali Company: BioSapien Web Address: www.biosapien.com
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