🧬 Why Drug Discovery Takes 15 Years (And How AI Cuts It to 3) | Andrey Doronichev (Part 4/4)

Sep 25, 2025

Andrey Doronichev, founder of Optic/Bioptic and a former product leader at Google/YouTube, discusses his journey into AI-driven drug discovery. He reveals how his team pivoted from detecting AI-generated content to utilizing large-scale data screening for pharmaceuticals. Andrey explains the concept of "agentic AI," which enables comprehensive reasoning in drug R&D, streamlining complex processes. He emphasizes the importance of adaptability and innovation in biotech, all while sharing personal insights about health and leading with humility.

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INSIGHT

AI Models Approximate Biology's Complexity

Andrey sees large AI models as compact approximations of complex biological systems when fed rich data.
He believes sufficient data and compute may let AI discover rules humans can't explicitly write.

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ADVICE

Choose Passion Over Only-Rational Bets

Follow the problem that makes your eyes light up, even if it's risky, because passion sustains founders longer.
Choose the path you and your team genuinely want to commit to rather than the purely rational option.

insights

INSIGHT

Early AI Wins Are Necessary But Partial

Bioptic's screening models (B1/B2) produced novel active hits and expanded to peptides and new targets.
These wins show AI speeds early R&D but represent only a small portion of the full drug development journey.

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Why the Original Market Fell Apart

01:46 • 23sec

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Pivot to Detecting AI-Generated Content

02:09 • 4min

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Spinning Off AIorNot and Refocusing Optic

05:59 • 1min

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How Unexpected Connections Sparked a New Direction

07:03 • 3min

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From Video Screening to Molecular Screening

09:35 • 1min

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Choosing Passion Over Safer Bets

11:03 • 2min

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Why AI Could Tackle Biological Complexity

12:52 • 2min

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The First-Generation AI Drug Companies and Timing

14:39 • 40sec

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Rebranding to Bioptic and the New Mission

15:18 • 6min

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Building Bioptic's Screening Technology

21:22 • 2min

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Evaluating Business Models: Single Asset, SaaS, or Platform

23:36 • 2min

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Validating Hits: Novel Molecules and Wet-Lab Confirmation

25:12 • 3min

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Layering Models: From B1 to B3 for Optimization

28:30 • 11sec

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Recognizing Drug Development's Multi-Dimensional Complexity

28:41 • 5min

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Building an AI Agent to Orchestrate R&D and Business Decisions

33:25 • 3min

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Agentic AI Enables Cross-Disciplinary Reasoning

36:30 • 4min

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Operating with Small Teams and AI Orchestrators

40:54 • 2min

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Target-Agnostic Strategy and Recovering Shelved Assets

42:43 • 3min

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Search & Evaluation Agent Finds Hidden Gems Globally

46:06 • 2min

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Balancing Internal Pipeline with Partner Deployments

48:02 • 4min

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Agentic Platform as Digital Employees and Network Effects

51:43 • 23sec

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Using a Discovered Program as a Test Bed

52:05 • 5min

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One-Year Roadmap: Grow Agentic Platform and Publications

56:42 • 3min

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Acknowledgements and Team Gratitude

59:24 • 1min

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Advice to His 21-Year-Old Self: Prioritize Health

• Mentioned in 2 episodes

For Blood and Money

Billionaires, Biotech, and the Quest for a Blockbuster Drug

Nathan Vardi

For Blood and Money tells the story of an upstart biotechnology company in California that developed a one-in-a-million cancer drug using a BTK inhibitor, which showed remarkable efficacy in treating a vicious type of leukemia. The book delves into the world of biotech start-ups, detailing the roles of scientists, doctors, investors, and patients in the high-stakes game of drug development. It explores the complexities of bringing new drugs to market, the reasons behind their high costs, and the influence of profit-driven venture capitalists on the future of medicine.

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr—helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.

As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.

“If our real mission is to truly help companies get drugs to patients faster and cheaper, the amount of complexity we have to solve goes way beyond science.”

In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Jon Chee talks with Andrey Doronichev about his leap from tech at YouTube and Google to launching OPTIC and reinventing it as BIOPTIC, an AI-powered drug discovery startup.

Andrey shares the ups and downs of projects like AIorNot, the pivotal link between big data and drug development, and how “agentic AI” now drives BIOPTIC’s rapid progress—proving that real biotech breakthroughs require humility, adaptability, and big-picture thinking.

Key topics covered:

Entrepreneurial Pivots: Navigating market shifts, spin-offs, and bold new directions
Large-Scale Data Screening: Leveraging AI to rapidly unlock drug discovery
Holistic Innovation: Fusing science, business, and regulation through agentic AI
AI in Drug Discovery: Accelerating screening, evaluation, and clinical workflows
Personal Reflections: Staying mission-driven, prioritizing health, and leading with humility

If you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.

Subscribe to the Podcast:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast

Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/

Find our guest, Andrey Doronichev, at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doronichev/

Website: https://bioptic.io/

Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee

Learn more about Excedr:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/

Website: https://www.excedr.com

Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:

Website: https://flow.page/kyojin

Resources & Articles:

AlphaFold: https://deepmind.google/science/alphafold/

Enamine REAL Database: https://enamine.net/compound-collections/real-compounds/real-database

Schrödinger (computational chemistry & drug discovery software): https://www.schrodinger.com/platform/

OpenAI: https://openai.com/index/introducing-deep-research/

Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/introducing-perplexity-deep-research

Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:

OPTIC: https://bioptic.io/

Google: https://www.google.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/

AIorNot: https://aiornot.com/

Insilico Medicine: https://insilico.com/

Atomwise: https://www.atomwise.com/

BenevolentAI: https://www.benevolent.com/

Schrödinger: https://www.schrodinger.com/

PureTech: https://puretechhealth.com/

Artem Cherkasov: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artem-cherkasov-155165b/?originalSubdomain=ca

David Thacker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thackerd/

Anna Kostikova: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annakostikova/?originalSubdomain=nl

Eric Elenko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-elenko-560b1b44/

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:45 OPTIC’s Market Collapse and AIorNot Spinout

07:02 Startup Pivots and Lessons from Tech History

09:42 TED Inspiration: Moving OPTIC to Drug Discovery

10:36 Winning a Kaggle Protein Function Challenge

15:20 Pivot to BiOptic and New AI Mission

16:35 Surfing Metaphors and Startup Timing

21:22 BiOptic Platform’s Early Technology Roadmap

26:18 Research Collaborations and Platform Expansion

36:29 Holistic, Agentic AI Vision for Biotech

46:55 Search/Evaluation Agent and Industry Strategy

55:50 Surviving Pivots, Focusing the Next Phase

59:15 Shout-outs, Mentors, and Advice

01:02:45 Outro

The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.

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