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“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

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Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: 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-databaseSchrödinger (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=caDavid Thacker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thackerd/Anna Kostikova: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annakostikova/?originalSubdomain=nlEric Elenko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-elenko-560b1b44/
Timestamps:00:00 Intro01:45 OPTIC’s Market Collapse and AIorNot Spinout07:02 Startup Pivots and Lessons from Tech History09:42 TED Inspiration: Moving OPTIC to Drug Discovery10:36 Winning a Kaggle Protein Function Challenge15:20 Pivot to BiOptic and New AI Mission16:35 Surfing Metaphors and Startup Timing21:22 BiOptic Platform’s Early Technology Roadmap26:18 Research Collaborations and Platform Expansion36:29 Holistic, Agentic AI Vision for Biotech46:55 Search/Evaluation Agent and Industry Strategy55:50 Surviving Pivots, Focusing the Next Phase59:15 Shout-outs, Mentors, and Advice01:02:45 OutroThe 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.