Orchestrating Scientists, Data, and AI to Discover New Drugs

Orchestrating Scientists, Data, and AI to Discover New Drugs

From Life Sciences DNA Podcast by Levine Media Group

February 26, 2026 · 46 min · Episode 45

About this episode

Scotch McClure discusses the role of AI in modern drug development and the mapping of peptides for new drug candidates.

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.

People in this episode

Host: Nagaraja Srivatsan

Guest: Scotch McClure

Topics covered

  • drug development
  • AI in healthcare
  • peptide mapping
  • antibiotic alternatives
  • data analysis

Keywords

  • AI
  • drug discovery
  • peptides
  • Maxwell Biosciences
  • antibiotics
  • data mining
  • healthcare

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Maxwell Biosciences

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