Mumbai, Oct. 28 -- Every day, specialized cells in the skin produce melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour. In people with vitiligo, a trigger can cause the cells to send out a distress signal. The immune system turns against these cells, destroying them and leaving behind patches of skin that lose their pigment.

Existing cures involve suppressing the immune system or even targeting the distress signal pathway.

The biggest piece of the puzzle is: what triggers the cell to release a distress signal in the first place?

Pune-based Ahammune Biosciences believes the answer could lie in intervening before the immune system launches its attack.

For chief executive Parul Ganju, an effective treatment must do more than halt the diseas...