India Pharma Outlook Team | Friday, 25 July 2025
A potential stem cell treatment for chronic liver failure was successfully evaluated by a startup based at the University of Hyderabad (UoH). The company claims that the treatment, known as Tulsi-28X, is the first in the world to employ a unique blend of stem cells and exosomes, which are naturally occurring healing particles. These are extracted from Wharton's Jelly, a section of the umbilical cord.
Despite the fact that the idea originated in the United States, Tulsi Therapeutics created the whole platform in India following three years of intense research at UoH's biotech incubator, ASPIRE-BioNEST.
"We have done trials on rats. All animals treated with Tulsi-28X showed reversal of liver fibrosis, indicating liver regeneration, resulting in zero deaths, compared to only 14% reversal and 43% deaths in the untreated control group," Dr Sairam Atluri, founder & CEO of Tulsi Therapeutics, told TOI. The preclinical trial was conducted in collaboration with Indiana University, US, and PGIMER, Chandigarh.
He said that this treatment method can be a game-changer as it would give a new lease of life to those with liver failure and waiting for transplantation. "Right now, the only treatment for liver failure is transplant. However, there are not enough donors, the treatment is very expensive, and it comes with various complications. The medicine that we developed can be administered intravenously," added Atluri, and said he moved from the US to India to work on this idea and bring it to life for liver care.
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The startup has applied to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for conducting human trials. "We are committed to developing world-class yet affordable regenerative solutions," said Dr Ravi Bonthala, chief scientific officer of the startup. "Our next step is to take Tulsi-28X into human clinical trials in collaboration with Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences."
