Date: 15 October 2026 (Thursday)
Time: 4pm BST | 11am ET | 8am PT | 5pm CEST
If someone asked you what your predictive model is worth, how would you answer?
It’s a challenging question, but one that teams must consider as investment in new models and technologies comes under scrutiny.
Common metrics like R2 or RMSE may tell you the accuracy, but they offer nothing in terms of commercial impact. Instead, we need to consider what a model costs to build and maintain, and the value it actually returns once it’s shaping real decisions – whether that’s time saved, resource redirected, or new avenues you’d never otherwise have explored.
In this fireside chat, Optibrium™ CEO Matt Segall sits down with Tudor Oprea, Chief AIDD officer at Dompé Farmaceutici, for a candid conversation on the real economics of predictive models in drug discovery. They’ll cover where the value genuinely comes from, the hidden costs that rarely make the balance sheet, and how to judge whether a model is actually impacting the decisions it’s meant to inform. Drawing on decades of experience, Tudor cuts through the noise with a practical view of what it takes to make these methods deliver, and even proposes a rule of thumb for what a prediction actually costs.
Whether you are a chemist deciding where to spend your time, or a discovery leader deciding where to invest, you’ll leave with a sharper way to think about the value, and the cost, of the models your work depends on.
The discussion will be followed by a live Q&A, so bring your questions for the speakers.
Meet the speakers
Matt Segall, PhD
CEO, Optibrium™
Matt has a Master of Science in Computation from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge.
As Associate Director at Camitro (UK), ArQule Inc. and then Inpharmatica, he led a team developing predictive ADME models and state-of-the-art intuitive decision-support and visualisation tools for drug discovery.
In January 2006, he became responsible for management of Inpharmatica’s ADME business, including experimental ADME services and the StarDrop™ software platform.
Following the acquisition of Inpharmatica, Matt became Senior Director responsible for BioFocus DPI’s ADMET division and, in 2009, led a management buyout of the StarDrop™ business to found Optibrium™.
Tudor Oprea, PhD
Chief AIDD Officer at Dompé Farmaceutici
