🧬 ISSUE No. 16 – Nov 20, 2024

🇰🇷 Samsung Biologics Secures USD 668 Million 🇪🇺 EU Manufacturing Deal | 🪽 From prediction markets to info finance

Author

Anthony Ao
November 20, 2024

In partnership with

ISSUE No. 16 – Nov 20, 2024

Hey there,

I hope you all enjoy the snow this week.

In this issue, we will talk about a deal done by Samsung Biologics and a new topic called Info Finance.

Martinsried, Munich, Germany

Not sure what this newsletter is about? Read the very first post here.

This newsletter is sponsored by The Rundown AI, a very cool newsletter about AI and tips you can improve your productivity with it. Click below to learn more 😁 

Stay up-to-date with AI

The Rundown is the most trusted AI newsletter in the world, with 800,000+ readers and exclusive interviews with AI leaders like Mark Zuckerberg.

Their expert research team spends all day learning what’s new in AI and talking with industry experts, then distills the most important developments into one free email every morning.

Plus, complete the quiz after signing up and they’ll recommend the best AI tools, guides, and courses – tailored to your needs.

I. What changes - news to watch this week

🇰🇷 Samsung Biologics Secures USD 668 Million Manufacturing Deal: Driving Global Biopharma Innovation

Spanning through 2031, the deal boosts Samsung Biologics’ total contract value for 2024 to over USD 4 billion, underscoring its dominance in the biopharma sector.

Honestly, in my day-to-day research work, I rarely see the name Samsung Biologics. However, it turns out that they are really quite big in the field!

What does this deal mean?

  • Investing in Innovation: The company is constructing a dedicated Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) facility, set to open by the end of this year, to support cutting-edge cancer therapies.

  • Scaling Infrastructure: With the development of Bio Campus II and the launch of Plant 5, both scheduled for 2025, Samsung Biologics is poised to meet the growing demand for advanced therapies.

During a biotech startup conference I attended, a VC investment presentation offered a revealing insight: pharmaceutical giants are exceptionally cash-rich, possessing the financial capacity to acquire the entire landscape of biotech startups - they are just loaded with cash.

Anthony Ao

CEO John Rim emphasized the company’s commitment, stating: “We are delighted to expand our partnership toward our shared commitment to delivering high-quality biopharmaceuticals to patients.”

Read more about the exit strategy of biotech companies here.

II. What never changes - timeless wisdom

🪽 From prediction markets to info finance

How do we make an accurate prediction? It turns out that there is something beyond polls and questionnaires.

Here is a recent blog by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. I find it very interesting to dig deeper into the recent U.S. election and how Polymarket played a role in it. 

Here is a quick snippet about what Info Finance means:

Buterin argues that prediction markets are just the tip of the iceberg. The broader concept of info finance—markets deliberately designed to elicit specific knowledge—has the potential to transform multiple domains:

  1. Decentralized Governance: Using markets to simulate voting outcomes could make DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) more efficient by avoiding participation fatigue while maintaining legitimacy.

  2. Scientific Peer Review: Prediction markets could help identify research results needing verification, offering a quick estimate of trustworthiness during the replication crisis.

  3. Talent Discovery: Markets for personal tokens could improve on speculative systems like BitClout by aligning their design with talent identification and development.

  4. Public Goods Funding: By mapping contribution networks, info finance could create fairer ways to allocate funds based on verified impacts.

Continue reading…

From prediction markets to info finance

vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/11/09/infofinance.html

Germany Monday GIF by Dritan Alsela Coffee

Gif by dritanalsela on Giphy

Let’s have a break…

Bruce Levin is the scientist behind YESCARTA, the first FDA-approved CAR-T Cell Therapy product in 2017. If you have him on the scientific advisory board (SAB) of your biotech startup, you will surely raise millions of dollars.

To praise and glorify him, let’s see one of his posts on X this week.

If you are an AI enthusiast, you better know the father of it, Yann LeCun.

III. Book Quotes

Here are some book quotes for you to ponder over the weekend.

Thanks for reading,

— Anthony

Reply

or to participate.