After seeing a friend experience post-mastectomy complications, Sarah Worrell started a medtech company to help women with breast cancer recover more quickly from breast-removal surgery, with less risk of infection.
The company she founded, Melodi Health Inc., produces an absorbable antibiotic mesh used to support tissue after a mastectomy. The Minneapolis startup raised $10.7 million to fund clinical trials for its flagship device, the Melodi Matrix.
HM Venture Partners, Engage Venture Partners, Southeast Minnesota Capital Fund and Three Bridges Private Capital participated in the round.
Mastectomy procedures remove some or all of a patient's breast tissue. A spacer or tissue expander is then placed in the breast during recovery. Patients are susceptible to infection during this healing, Worrell said, with average infection rates as high as 14%.
The Melodi Matrix is designed to support the tissue and contains antibiotics that are released slowly to ward off infections. The device itself is eventually absorbed by the body.
The technology originally came from medtech giant Medtronic, which uses it for a variety of post-surgical purposes. Melodi licensed the design and adapted its use for breast surgery.
Worrell said the clinical trials have started enrolling patients and will take around 30 months. The trials will take place at Mayo Clinic and Salt Lake City-based University of Utah Health.
"A 10% to 14% national average infection rate in breast reconstruction is not acceptable," said Dr. Alvin Kwok, associate professor of surgery and principal investigator at University of Utah Health, in a statement.
After the clinical trials and getting FDA approval for the device, the company will work on commercialization of the device and hire marketing and sales staff, Worrell said.
The company has five employees, and Medtronic manufactures its device. The company also will look at adapting the device for other surgical uses after the clinical trials.
