Life Sciences DNA Podcast

Tris Pharma Chief Commercial Officer Manesh Naidu sits down with Nagaraja Srivatsan to discuss how the small but growing specialty pharma company is pursuing a deliberately incremental AI strategy, focusing on its biggest pain points rather than chasing grand, enterprise-wide transformations. He explains how the team is using off-the-shelf and vendor tools where possible, rigorously managing data and compliance risk, and letting quick wins in discrete use cases pave the way for broader change. Naidu discusses what practical AI adoption looks like for Tris, how the company is applying the technology to high-value commercial challenges, and how it is reinventing sales training through virtual physician simulations.

Scotch McClure had a bold plan for Maxwell Biosciences to map and mine the roughly 3 percent of peptides circulating in human plasma. The company has harnessed AI to move from a massive and messy universe of human peptides to a small-molecule candidate that could offer a potential alternative to antibiotics, antifungals, and some antivirals. McClure, CEO of Maxwell, sat down with Nagaraja Srivatsan to discuss why he thinks AI is becoming the central engine that makes modern drug development not just faster but possible at all, how he sees AI as essential to filtering out the noise in vast datasets, and why organizations will need to surrender more of the scientific process to AI while constraining it with a clear vision and guardrails.

Scott Cenci, chief information and data officer for Acadia Pharmaceuticals, sits down with Nagaraja Srivatsan to discuss how generative and agentic AI are reshaping biopharma throughout the enterprise from R&D and clinical development to the commercial field. He discusses how it is changing the roles of people like medical writers into medical editors, why every knowledge worker will soon manage AI agents as part of their job; and the hard problems leaders face in prioritizing AI investments, avoiding experiment fatigue, governing enterprise data, and building a culture of continuous learning.​

Gabi Tarcic, vice president of product for Evogene, sits down with Srivatsan Nagaraja about applying AI to small molecule drug discovery, the cultural and operational changes required for researchers to adopt these tools, and how AI-driven platforms can improve the efficiency of pharma R&D.

Ronel Veksler, co-founder and CEO of PromiseBio, sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss the company’s AI-enabled proteomics platform, and how post-translational modifications of proteins represent a new frontier for precision medicine in autoimmune diseases; and how AI is enabling deep profiling of the epiproteome for better disease subtyping, improved prediction of drug response, and more personalized therapeutic strategies.

Manfred Stapff, founder and principal of Candid Advisory, sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss the potential of real-world data to accelerate drug development and improve regulatory strategies. He discusses why real-world data can provide insights may miss, shed light on treatment effects once approved, and how it may one day reshape the drug approval process.

Mohan Uttarwar, CEO 1Cell.Ai, sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss how his company is transforming cancer diagnostics and care by combining cutting-edge molecular science with advanced AI. He talks about how the company’s single-cell multi-omics platform provides real-time, precision insights, enhances patient selection in clinical trials, and delivers actionable information for oncologists.

Dimitris Agrafiotis, director of digital analytics and AI at Arsenal Capital Partners sits down with Nagaraja Srivatsan to discuss the current state of AI in clinical trials, the potential for AI to streamline operations, and the importance of user experience and change management in driving adoption of the technology.

Craig Lipset, advisor and founder of Clinical Innovation Partners, sits down with Nagaraja Srivatsan to discuss how AI can bring greater predictability to clinical trials, how organizations can adopt the technology effectively, and the importance of having a culture of experimentation.

Venky Iyer, director of data strategy and automation at Pfizer, sits down with Nagaraja Srivatsan to discuss the transformative role of AI and machine learning in the pharmaceutical industry. They discuss Iyer’s journey in implementing AI solutions to enhance operational efficiency at Pfizer. They talk about the importance of engaging operational teams, managing change effectively, and focusing on the value of AI adoption in improving drug development processes.

Kannan Natarajan, senior vice president at Pfizer, discusses the potential of generative AI to streamline pharmaceutical documentation processes and improve efficiency, what he’s learned about implementing AI solutions, and the cultural challenges of adopting new technologies.

Vijayalakshmi Ramshankar, professor and head of the Department of Cancer Biology and Molecular Diagnostics at Cancer Institute (WIA) sits down with Nagaraja Srivatsan to discuss the cancer research landscape in India, the work she is doing to leverage AI to improve diagnosis and outcomes, and the future of AI in oncology