Startup Company of the Year aims to make cancer treatment better for patients

Miden Melle-Hannah was performing a difficult surgery on a cancer patient when she envisioned a way to make the procedure better for doctors, patients and families. Soon after, she founded Multi4, which removes urinary bladder cancer in an automated, effortless and human-centric way.

The company’s patented endoscopic instrument can inject anaesthesia, burn off cancer, remove cancerous tissue and transport each piece out. It makes diagnosis and treatment of awake patients possible.

Bladder cancer is one of the most common types of cancer worldwide. The World Cancer Research Fund says there were more than 573,000 new cases of bladder cancer in 2020.

“I don’t meet many people who actually talk about the patients and the benefits for the patient. And for me, that’s the most important part,” Melle-Hannah said. “I think that is actually the way more people should think.”

Miden Melle-Hannah is a physician, surgeon and urologist. She says she spoke with medical experts in Sweden and asked them to evaluate her new idea. She says they told her it was fantastic, but impossible.

“It was kind of science fiction from the beginning,” Melle-Hannah said.

Next, she worked with engineers to design a concept of the technology for practical use. Melle-Hannah says the Multi4 endoscopic instrument revolutionizes treatment, and also significantly reduces costs.

“Less suffering and waiting times”

Healthcare workers won’t need to spend as much time preparing and performing surgery, and the people getting cancer treatment or diagnosis won’t need to spend as much time in the hospital.

“It’s actually the technology that is amazing because with this, we can in a few minutes, take a diagnostic sample of tissue and we can also treat cancer,” Melle-Hannah said. “So this is something that can be used for a lot of different cancers.”

The Multi4 founder and CEO says they’re producing instruments to use in validations, testing and clinical trials. Melle-Hannah wants Multi4 to be first on the world market with this new technology, so they can help as many people with cancer as possible.

Multi4 won “Startup Company of the Year” during Techarenan Challenge this month at Almedalen in Visby.

“I’m very grateful to be picked as a finalist, and then also as an award-winner,” Melle-Hannah said. “I could never imagine that being there could actually lead to so many interesting meetings with people who I think will be important for us, but also potential investors.”