The Biotech Startups Podcast
🧬 From Games to Cancer Research: Why Drug Discovery Is an Economics Problem | Javier Tordable (3/4)
July 27 · 22 min · Episode 262 · 17.1 MB
0:00-22:44
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🧬 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
"Pessimists are often right, but optimists are often wealthy."
In this part of the podcast, Jon and Javier explore Javier's years as technical director in Google's Office of the CTO, where he worked with the world's biggest gaming companies—Nintendo, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Unity—helping them leverage Google Cloud technology. Javier then shares the deeply personal story of how his father's passing from cancer became the turning point that pulled him into life sciences, and how he taught himself biochemistry and pharmacology through Harvard Medical School's HMX program.
The conversation takes a sharp turn into the economics of drug discovery and healthcare. Javier argues that the biggest failures in biotech are not scientific but economic—nobody wants to pay $10,000 for an antibiotic, so companies stop researching them. Jon and Javier unpack the misaligned incentives, administrative bloat, and rising costs that plague the US healthcare system, and debate whether AI can help solve problems that are fundamentally about money, not science.
Key Topics Covered:
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/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/
Find our guest, Javier Tordable at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtordableWebsite: https://www.pauling.ai/
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:Best practices for using Spanner as a gaming database: https://docs.cloud.google.com/spanner/docs/best-practices-gaming-databaseBiochemistry Fundamentals: https://learn.hms.harvard.edu/programs/biochemistry-fundamentalsComputational Platform for Molecular Discovery & Design - Schrödinger: https://www.schrodinger.com/platform/Why 90% of clinical drug development fails and how to improve it? - PMC: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9293739/How Does Health Spending in the U.S. Compare to Other Countries? | KFF: https://www.kff.org/health-costs/health-spending-in-the-u-s-as-compared-to-other-countries-slideshow/Current economic and regulatory challenges: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44259-025-00123-1
Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:Google: https://www.google.comNintendo: https://www.nintendo.comUbisoft: https://www.ubisoft.comElectronic Arts: https://www.ea.comUnity: https://unity.comHarvard Medical School: https://hms.harvard.eduSchrödinger: https://www.schrodinger.comMEDITECH: https://www.meditech.com
Marc Andreessen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen
Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:08 Working With Gaming Companies at Google Cloud05:17 Pivoting to Life Sciences After Father's Passing07:30 Self-Studying Biochemistry & Pharmacology08:42 Life Sciences Not Welcoming to Outsiders09:37 Jon's Experience With Academic Fiefdoms10:47 Drug Discovery's Biggest Failures Are Economic15:12 The Broken Economics of US Healthcare16:27 Antibiotics & the Profit Problem18:14 Can AI Solve Healthcare's Economics?19:30 Systems You Can't Vote Your Way Out Of20:38 Pessimists vs. Optimists21:27 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.
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
"Pessimists are often right, but optimists are often wealthy."
In this part of the podcast, Jon and Javier explore Javier's years as technical director in Google's Office of the CTO, where he worked with the world's biggest gaming companies—Nintendo, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Unity—helping them leverage Google Cloud technology. Javier then shares the deeply personal story of how his father's passing from cancer became the turning point that pulled him into life sciences, and how he taught himself biochemistry and pharmacology through Harvard Medical School's HMX program.
The conversation takes a sharp turn into the economics of drug discovery and healthcare. Javier argues that the biggest failures in biotech are not scientific but economic—nobody wants to pay $10,000 for an antibiotic, so companies stop researching them. Jon and Javier unpack the misaligned incentives, administrative bloat, and rising costs that plague the US healthcare system, and debate whether AI can help solve problems that are fundamentally about money, not science.
Key Topics Covered:
- Working With Gaming Companies: How Javier partnered with Nintendo, Ubisoft, EA, and Unity as technical director in Google's CTO office.
- From Gaming to Life Sciences: How the death of Javier's father from cancer became the turning point that redirected his career.
- Self-Taught Biochemistry: Learning biochem, pharmacology, and physiology through Harvard Medical School's HMX courses while working at Google.
- Life Sciences Gatekeeping: Why the field is uniquely unwelcoming to outsiders—and why Jon compares academic science to fiefdoms.
- Drug Discovery Is an Economics Problem: Why the biggest barriers to new cures are funding, incentives, and economics—not science.
- Antibiotics and the Profit Problem: Why no company will develop novel antibiotics because nobody will pay $10,000 for one.
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/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcastWebsite: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/
Find our guest, Javier Tordable at these links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtordableWebsite: https://www.pauling.ai/
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:Best practices for using Spanner as a gaming database: https://docs.cloud.google.com/spanner/docs/best-practices-gaming-databaseBiochemistry Fundamentals: https://learn.hms.harvard.edu/programs/biochemistry-fundamentalsComputational Platform for Molecular Discovery & Design - Schrödinger: https://www.schrodinger.com/platform/Why 90% of clinical drug development fails and how to improve it? - PMC: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9293739/How Does Health Spending in the U.S. Compare to Other Countries? | KFF: https://www.kff.org/health-costs/health-spending-in-the-u-s-as-compared-to-other-countries-slideshow/Current economic and regulatory challenges: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44259-025-00123-1
Companies, Universities, & People Mentioned:Google: https://www.google.comNintendo: https://www.nintendo.comUbisoft: https://www.ubisoft.comElectronic Arts: https://www.ea.comUnity: https://unity.comHarvard Medical School: https://hms.harvard.eduSchrödinger: https://www.schrodinger.comMEDITECH: https://www.meditech.com
Marc Andreessen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen
Timestamps:00:00 Intro02:08 Working With Gaming Companies at Google Cloud05:17 Pivoting to Life Sciences After Father's Passing07:30 Self-Studying Biochemistry & Pharmacology08:42 Life Sciences Not Welcoming to Outsiders09:37 Jon's Experience With Academic Fiefdoms10:47 Drug Discovery's Biggest Failures Are Economic15:12 The Broken Economics of US Healthcare16:27 Antibiotics & the Profit Problem18:14 Can AI Solve Healthcare's Economics?19:30 Systems You Can't Vote Your Way Out Of20:38 Pessimists vs. Optimists21:27 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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