Lab Rats series: A Pune biotech startup’s new approach to vitiligo cure

For chief executive Parul Ganju, an effective treatment must do more than halt the disease. It should stop the patches from spreading, restore pigmentation and ensure that the colour does not fade again.

After a decade of research, Ahammune has advanced its lead candidate, AB1001, to phase 2 clinical trials, with a team of just 10 and $8-9 million raised through grants and equity funding.

“That’s what has helped us in the last ten years to take the molecule into phase 2, at a fraction of the cost that any company outside India would spend,” Ganju said.

In drug development, phase 1 trials are focused primarily on establishing safety, tolerability and dose range in healthy volunteers, before they can progress to phase 2, tested in a larger group of patients to see how it works while still remaining safe.

While there has been a rising interest in Indian biotech funding, Ganju characterized it as investors “still testing the waters…Because there's still less understanding of how commercialization is going to take place in the long term.”

What does its drug do?

“We identified a pathway that leads to the trigger of this autoimmunity in the skin. And then we designed molecules to target this pathway,” said Ganju.

Its lead molecule, AB1001, is a first-in-class drug, meaning a completely new mechanism of action to treat a disease. It has already progressed further than most other Indian discovery-stage molecules and is currently in phase 2 clinical trials across the country.

In drug development, phase 1 trials are focused primarily on establishing safety, tolerability and dose range in healthy volunteers, before they can progress to phase 2, tested in a larger group of patients to see how it works while still remaining safe.

JAK inhibitors like Ruxolitinab, which is the first US Food and Drug Administration-approved JAK treatment for non-segmental vitiligo, can also have severe side-effects, especially the oral drugs, including major adverse cardiovascular events, blood clots, serious infections and cancer.

“If you think of what attributes a good vitiligo treatment should have, there should ideally be three attributes: one, it should stop the spread of the patches…Second is also bringing back color to these patches so that they become even to your skin tone, and third is when they come back, they remain like that,” said Ganju.

Its drug candidate is not an immunosuppressant and has passed the safety check in its phase 1 trials, which is crucial in long-term treatments.

Currently, it is being developed as a topical cream, but an oral medicine is in early stages of development as well. It’s also working on two other programmes that target skin-related autoimmune disorders, which are in the pre-clinical stage.

The cornerstone of Ahammune’s strategy going forward is to keep the therapy affordable for Indian patients. “We want to take it all the way to commercialization on our own for the Indian market, while pursuing partnerships for the US and European markets, considering that we have patents in place,” said Ganju, emphasizing that accessibility remains a core focus.

On the other hand, the newer therapies like the JAK inhibitors can cost about ₹15,000 for a 15g tube, according to prices listed on online pharmacies.

“The idea is to choose areas which have not had any sort of huge interest from the clinical fraternity to do research… The things that Ahammune is trying to do have a huge use case. There are many, many patients across the world, yet not enough clinical research has happened. So, we have taken that path,” said Uday Chatterjee, Ahammune board member and angel investor.

Success would open a lot of doors for large investments, both from national and international sources, Chatterjee added. “Which is definitely the lifeblood, because without a large infusion of capital, you cannot do this work. So what they're doing has in that sense a very vital importance to the future of this development,” he said.

Jessica Jani

Jessica has been tracking the pharmaceutical, life sciences and healthcare sector for Mint since November 2024. Based in the country's financial capital, she reports on everything to do with health and medicines. This includes corporate action, patent wars, deals, startup activity and consumer trends. She also keeps a keen eye on the ever-evolving world wellness and preventive health, which moves faster than regulation can keep up. She has a deep interest in what the future of health looks like and how science, innovation, policy and company decisions inform and impact the health of citizens. She has been a reporter for five years, working with publications like The Core and News18 prior to this, covering various sectors like automobiles, real estate, energy, sustainability and urban mobility. Jessica has a bachelor’s degree in English from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai and a postgraduate diploma in media from Sophia’s College, Mumbai. Her work is driven by a desire to decode how macro decisions and events alter and shape the lives of ordinary people. Drop her a mail or a message to discuss business scoops, exciting new medicines and inventions, or your latest wellness routine.