In your biological library, known as the brain, there are countless stories stored across billions of shelves. But with age, some sections start to collapse. Not suddenly, but slowly and silently over years due to a neurodegenerative condition called Alzheimer’s disease. Usually, it is spotted only when the symptoms are too loud to ignore. By then, the damage is already deep. To bridge that gap in diagnostics, Dr Sasidhar Manda, who has over 15 years of research in exosome biology and extracellular vesicles, founded Urvogelbio, a healthtech company developing blood-based diagnostics powered by brain-derived exosomes. This technology can detect neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s five to 15 years before symptoms begin. In a conversation with CE, Dr Sasidhar decodes the technology.
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Can you explain how Urvogelbio addresses gaps in CNS diagnostics and therapeutics?
Urvogelbio exists to bring precision neurodiagnostics to everyone — early, accessible, and personalised. Today, most neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are often detected too late and poorly monitored. We address this by using a simple non-invasive, blood-based diagnostics powered by brain-derived exosomes, genetic profiling, and AI-driven digital twins. Our test can spot diseases five to 15 years before symptoms start, help match patients to the right treatments, and allow continuous tracking over time — all at a much lower cost than traditional methods. While drug development for these diseases has progressed, diagnostics hasn’t kept up. We’re closing that gap by transforming how brain diseases are detected and managed, both globally and in India.
How has the Indian School of Business supported Urvogelbio?
ISB has played a foundational role in our journey, from validating our idea in the lab to preparing it for the market. Through the I-Venture@ISB platform, we received structured guidance that helped us fine-tune our product-market fit and business model. ISB also connected us early with hospitals, pharma partners, and investors, which fast-tracked our clinical partnerships. Their initial funding support and accelerator visibility helped us prove our concept and build momentum. Most importantly, the ISB network — alumni, faculty, and ecosystem partners — has opened critical doors for us, making ISB not just a launchpad but a long-term strategic ally.
What inspired the focus on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias as the initial application area?
We chose to focus on Alzheimer’s and related dementias because of a strong mix of medical urgency, scientific possibility, and personal motivation. Alzheimer’s is often diagnosed too late; by then, over 60% of the brain is already damaged. While treatments are emerging, there are no widely accessible, blood-based diagnostics, especially in countries like India. The science around brain-derived exosomes gave us a powerful, non-invasive way to detect these diseases early, forming the backbone of our platform. While we started with Alzheimer’s, our technology works towards detecting multiple diseases — from Parkinson’s to multiple sclerosis. On a personal note, seeing the effects of dementia in our own families made us even more committed to solving this problem.
What is your exosome-based platform and how does it work in identifying disease-specific biomarkers non-invasively?
Think of our platform like a brain health check from a blood sample — no need for scans or spinal taps. All cells, including neurons, release exosomes into the bloodstream. These tiny carriers contain important molecules like proteins and RNA, similar to WhatsApp messages between cells. We use our patented tech to isolate exosomes that specifically come from brain cells, giving us direct, non-invasive insights into brain health. By reading these molecular messages, we can detect early signs of diseases like Alzheimer’s long before symptoms appear. This same platform can be adapted to detect issues in other organs too, making it a flexible tool for early and personalised diagnostics.
In what ways have you integrated deep learning into your diagnostics and monitoring solutions?
Deep learning is a core enabler of our AI-integrated diagnostics and we are currently in the validation phase of these models. We use it in three main ways: first, to sift through detailed molecular data from brain-cell exosomes and spot patterns linked to diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Second, to combine this data with MRI scans, which helps us understand disease stages better. And finally, to create ‘digital twins’ — virtual patient models that predict how a disease might progress or respond to treatment. Right now, we’re validating these AI models with real patient data to ensure they are accurate, reliable, and scalable for real-world use.
Could you explain how your platform supports biopharma R&D, especially in biomarker discovery and companion diagnostics?
Our platform gives easy, non-invasive access to deep brain data. We can deeply profile neuron and glia-derived exosomes, allowing identification of new diseases and drug-response markers using proteomics, transcriptomics and miRNA — all from a simple blood test. This is crucial for brain diseases where getting tissue samples is tough. In drug trials, our platform helps find the right patients based on their molecular profile — like amyloid or tau levels — and supports personalised dosing. We’re already collaborating with pharma on early-stage studies and see strong potential for our platform to be used as a companion diagnostic for next-gen drugs, especially in early-stage Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. We also enable ongoing tracking of treatment response, making clinical trials more efficient and predictive.
Can you elaborate on TRL 7 and the specific milestones or pilot programmes you’ve completed to validate your technology in real-world settings?
Reaching Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 means our platform has moved beyond the lab and is now being tested in real clinical settings. We’ve validated our test with over 450 samples from memory clinics, neurology patients, and community eldercare centres. These pilots, focused on Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis, showed strong links between our biomarkers and clinical indicators like cognitive scores, MRI results, and disease stages. We also ran usability pilots to refine how we collect samples, format reports, and work with hospitals. The results confirm both our science and our ability to integrate into routine clinical care. We’re now gearing up to turn this into a product that fits into microfluidic devices and eldercare programmes.
Are there any existing collaborations with hospitals, diagnostic labs, or pharma companies to test or adopt your solutions?
Yes, we’ve built strong partnerships across hospitals, diagnostic labs, and pharma. We’re working with a network of 76 hospitals, including neurology and memory care units, to run pilots for Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis. We’ve teamed up with diagnostic labs to handle sample processing and support our test rollout in India. On the industry side, we’re collaborating with pharma companies and clinical research organisations to provide exosome-based biomarker discovery and patient profiling services for drug trials. These partnerships not only help validate our platform but also pave the way for broader adoption in both diagnostics and precision medicine.
Are you planning to expand to other CNS conditions or disease areas?
Yes, our roadmap is built for scale. We started with Alzheimer’s, which is the most common cause of dementia, and our platform is already validated for early detection and staging. Next, we’re expanding into related dementias like Lewy body, frontotemporal, vascular, and diseases like Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, and ALS. What makes our platform special is its flexibility; we can isolate organ-specific exosomes from a blood sample, so we’re also exploring use cases in liver, heart, metabolic, and immune-related conditions. At the same time, we’re developing microfluidic point-of-care versions and integrating digital biomarkers like speech, smell, and cognition. Our long-term vision is precision longevity diagnostics — helping people monitor ageing and brain health proactively, and intervene before problems start. Urvogelbio is moving from dementia diagnostics towards being a full-spectrum precision health platform.