Wickramasekara: Pure AI biology model companies must morph into biopharma
Sajith Wickramasekara · No Priors Ep. 140 | With Benchling Co-Founder and CEO Sajith Wickramasekara · Nov 13, 2025 · at 27:44
Sajith Wickramasekara, CEO of Benchling, discusses the viability of platform vs. asset-centric business models for AI biotech startups with Sarah Guo.
0:00 / 0:30exact quote · 30.6s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I think it's unlikely, it's possible, but it's unlikely that sort of, hey, they're just gonna remain pure model companies who just do deals with pharma, where pharma, you know, pays them a hundred million dollars upfront or something like that, and they have five customers and whatnot. Like, I feel like the sort of, Model building is probably commoditizing too fast for that to be a tractable business model, but to take that expertise and to make, to be fundamentally better at doing research and early development to make molecules and sort of morphing into a biopharma company, like that seems like one logical path.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Sajith Wickramasekara
Wickramasekara: Major pharma increasingly licenses drug molecules from China
“We've seen this huge uptick in pharma going to China and buying molecules that they typically would have bought from American biotechs.”
Wickramasekara: Clinical trial optimization is a red herring versus molecule quality
“People get very focused on clinical trials because they're like the biggest line item. And they're important, don't get me wrong, but I think it's actually a bit of a red, red herring. Where, ah, yes, there are operational problems. Like, some studies are desi…”
Wickramasekara: GLP-1s will probably be the best-selling drugs of all time
“And then all of a sudden, like we have this category defining medicine that's going to go on to probably be the best selling drug of all, all time.”
Wickramasekara: AI in scientific discovery will focus on augmentation over autonomy next 1-2 years
“While I would love for that to happen, and I'm maybe more optimistic on a longer time scale, we will get there. I think in the short term, I'm next one to two years, which, you know, already feels like an eternity in AI time. I'm a little bit more bullish on s…”
Wickramasekara: Most Biotech Researchers Are Not Yet Using Much AI in R&D
“Most people aren't really using that much AI and R&D yet. They all want to, they're primed to, but there's a lot of concerns about accuracy, IP, security, legal. And I think the farther you go from SF, the like, Larger those concerns, concerns get.”