WEBVTT - The Next Biotech Breakthrough

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. This is Bloomberg BusinessWeek

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<v Speaker 1>with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.

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<v Speaker 2>Carol, this story crossing by Rachel Matt's just about one

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<v Speaker 2>pm this afternoon. This is pretty cool. Open ai is

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<v Speaker 2>releasing a free tool. It's aimed at making it easier

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<v Speaker 2>for scientists to use chat GPT to draft research papers

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<v Speaker 2>and collaborate with colleagues. It's part of a larger effort

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<v Speaker 2>to position its chatbot as an aid for scientific work

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<v Speaker 2>and discoveries. Okay, it's called Prism. Open ai is rolling

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<v Speaker 2>it out today. It uses the company's GPT five point

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<v Speaker 2>two AI model to carry out task related to writing

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<v Speaker 2>and revising academic work. A scientist, for example, might ask

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<v Speaker 2>it to help improve the way a paper is written

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<v Speaker 2>and find related papers to cite in their work, or

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<v Speaker 2>generate a computerized version of a handwritten diagram.

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<v Speaker 3>Just be careful not to copy somebody else's work, or

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<v Speaker 3>is gonna say, well, you won't be not good citations

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<v Speaker 3>are important.

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<v Speaker 2>I think the uh administration ran into some issues with

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<v Speaker 2>using AI to come out with some guidelines in recent months,

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<v Speaker 2>and it was found that it's cited papers that don't

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<v Speaker 2>actually exist.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's it's it's super interesting. I think we're finding

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<v Speaker 3>our way. But I do agree, and I think there's

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<v Speaker 3>a momentum of AI in general. What it couldn't do

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<v Speaker 3>maybe for the healthcare space, for the science space. We

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<v Speaker 3>have a great voice on this. We love touching base

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<v Speaker 3>with her. Jenny Rook, founder and managing director of Genera Ventures.

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<v Speaker 3>It's a VC firm. It invests in, it invests in

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<v Speaker 3>having a tough I'm having a tough time on this Tuesday.

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<v Speaker 3>I blame the snow and maybe being a little off.

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<v Speaker 3>She says, the quote next generation of companies at the

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<v Speaker 3>convergence of technology and biology. This is what she invests in. Jenny,

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<v Speaker 3>good to have you back with us. So talk to

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<v Speaker 3>us about new year, maybe some new ideas, maybe some

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<v Speaker 3>new momentum. Uh. The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference wrapped up

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<v Speaker 3>earlier this month. You were there. Tell us what we

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<v Speaker 3>need to know, especially for those who are listening and

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<v Speaker 3>watching in terms of the investing landscape, trends, narratives in

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<v Speaker 3>this space.

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<v Speaker 4>Sure, I'm happy to good to be back with you,

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<v Speaker 4>Caroly and Tim. Yeah, it was a dynamic year for

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<v Speaker 4>the JP morgan Bytech conference that happens every year here

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<v Speaker 4>in San Francisco. It is always good sort of bell

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<v Speaker 4>weather for how people are feeling going into the new year.

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<v Speaker 4>I would say the headline that I kept hearing in

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<v Speaker 4>conversations around here was cautiously optimistic, which you know, I'll

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<v Speaker 4>take it after the last couple of years, although I

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<v Speaker 4>must admit that was a phrase that we said last

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<v Speaker 4>year as well, and then twenty twenty five happened with

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<v Speaker 4>all its uncertainties, but there was a different, probably different feel.

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<v Speaker 4>There were more people here actually this year than last year.

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<v Speaker 4>Generally speaking, events were quite well attended, and I think

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<v Speaker 4>there was a lot of energy around the very real

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<v Speaker 4>impacts as you were just talking about, of AI on

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<v Speaker 4>health and science, and also some of the shifts in

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<v Speaker 4>the availability of funding, both public and private for advancing

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<v Speaker 4>health care and science, actually along the lines of your

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<v Speaker 4>previous guests. So I would say, in general, lots to

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<v Speaker 4>be excited about, again, perhaps cautiously. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>We spoke to you know, just a couple of weeks

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<v Speaker 2>ago from the JPM conference. We heard from some of

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<v Speaker 2>the heads or chairs of the biggest pharmaceutical companies out there.

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<v Speaker 2>Are you also seeing like the early stage stuff. Are

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<v Speaker 2>you seeing a lot of opportunities there still? Because as

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<v Speaker 2>we've spoke to you a lot about quite you know

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<v Speaker 2>over the last year, a lot of that stems from

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<v Speaker 2>academic research. There are questions about funding. We just spoke

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<v Speaker 2>about it with Janet Lauren, you know, in these universities,

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<v Speaker 2>and that funding drying up from the federal government. Is

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<v Speaker 2>that excitement still?

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<v Speaker 1>There?

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<v Speaker 2>Are the opportunities still there? Are you having a hard

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<v Speaker 2>time picking and choosing which investments to make because there

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<v Speaker 2>are a plethora of investments to make.

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<v Speaker 4>I think there are always going to be opportunities because

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<v Speaker 4>there's so much we're still learning about basic science and

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<v Speaker 4>how to use it. And as we've been talking about

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<v Speaker 4>the acceleration of the ability to get some data as

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<v Speaker 4>a scientist, as a researcher, as a technology developer, as

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<v Speaker 4>an entrepreneur, get that data, reincorporate anyone's thinking with the

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<v Speaker 4>tools of AI, and come up with new ways to

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<v Speaker 4>pursue either the business plan or the scientific research that

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<v Speaker 4>Flywheel is spending faster with the assistance of AI and

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<v Speaker 4>other kinds of connectivity and collaboration. So that's definitely happening.

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<v Speaker 4>I think One of the things we've talked about in

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<v Speaker 4>our conversations in the past is while it was very

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<v Speaker 4>much disruptive to people's expectations about where federal dollars were

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<v Speaker 4>going to be coming from for advancing science, we've seen

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<v Speaker 4>a couple of things. One the resilience of those driven,

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<v Speaker 4>passionate researchers who are looking to get their work done

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<v Speaker 4>one day, one way or another figuring out ways to

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<v Speaker 4>get that funding done. As well as entrepreneurs. They tend

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<v Speaker 4>to be the grittiest and the most driven. So we're

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<v Speaker 4>seeing in some cases this actually, perhaps counterintuitively, is creating

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<v Speaker 4>a new category or more opportunities for the early stage investor,

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<v Speaker 4>where perhaps a researcher who hadn't been thinking of commercializing

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<v Speaker 4>their research is starting to think, well, is there an

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<v Speaker 4>opportunity to bring this out in a way where I

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<v Speaker 4>can access both commercial dollars and the funding that is

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<v Speaker 4>available for advancing science.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 3>I also think about, you know, how patient Jenny investors

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<v Speaker 3>have to be for really seeing the AI payoff when

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<v Speaker 3>it comes to you know, either biotech developments. We know

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<v Speaker 3>some of this stuff takes time in a normal world,

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<v Speaker 3>and we know AI I can certainly speed up things.

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<v Speaker 3>But I'm just curious, does the time frame for figuring

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<v Speaker 3>out developments in this area is it sped up because

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<v Speaker 3>of AI or is it still going to take a while.

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<v Speaker 4>This is such an important point, Carol. We have to

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<v Speaker 4>keep in mind that many of the accelerations that we're

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<v Speaker 4>talking about that AI can bring to the practice of

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<v Speaker 4>science is still happening at the beginning of a journey too.

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<v Speaker 4>For example, bring a new intervention or diagnostic product to market,

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<v Speaker 4>and so perhaps it can help us come up with

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<v Speaker 4>novel medicines or novel targets for medicines, but we're still

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<v Speaker 4>looking at the beginning of the multi year, many hundreds

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<v Speaker 4>of millions of dollars journey to bring a drug properly

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<v Speaker 4>through clinical development. So I think it is important to

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<v Speaker 4>your point to temper our excitement about that potential impact

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<v Speaker 4>with the overlay of the timelines that it takes to

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<v Speaker 4>actually properly investigate and develop and launch medicines.

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<v Speaker 3>Very cool stuff I was thinking about too. We had

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<v Speaker 3>a conversation with Kathy Wood and talking about AI certainly

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<v Speaker 3>in healthcare and drug developments as well. Yeah, definitely bullish.

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<v Speaker 3>So we highly recommend folks check out that conversation, but

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<v Speaker 3>Jenny always loved touching base with you. Certainly an important

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<v Speaker 3>area to have on our radar, and that of course

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<v Speaker 3>was Jenny Rook, founder managing director of Generadventures. Good to

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<v Speaker 3>check in with her, joining us from the West Coast,

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<v Speaker 3>San Francisco,