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☆ VCs didn't care about OpenAI's weird board structure. It was all about investing in Sam Altman and its 'transformative' tech.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | Vishal Persaud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

OpenAI's venture capital investors weren't thinking about its mission to serve "humanity" by developing artificial intelligence. After Altman's ouster, Vinod Khosla, an early investor in OpenAI, came to his defense despite the criticism. OpenAI's complex and unique corporate governance structure meant that VCs could invest in the capped profit entity, but never earn any influence over the nonprofit board of directors, all of whom were either cofounders or appointed outside AI experts. The board structure and its governance are all likely to change as part of the deal to bring Sam Altman back as CEO of OpenAI. The purpose of the newly formed OpenAI board – consisting of current board member D'Angelo, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor – is to vet and potentially appoint an expanded board of up to nine people, and that Microsoft and Altman want board seats, The Verge reported.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, Altman, VCs, Sam, Altman's, Vinod Khosla, Yunus, Khosla, Wesley Chan, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Tasha McCauley, who's, Joseph Gordon, Levitt, Helen Toner, Adam D'Angelo, Karthee Madasamy, it's, David Sacks, D'Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor – Organizations: Business, Tiger Global Management, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Microsoft, FPV Ventures, Rand Corporation, Georgetown's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, MFV Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Ikea, Bosch, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Bertelsmann Foundation, Carlsberg Foundation, Craft Ventures Locations: OpenAI, Silicon Valley, Hollywood

☆ Novo Nordisk stops Ozempic kidney trial after early signs of success
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Patrick Wingrove | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Pens for the diabetes drug Ozempic sit on a production line to be packaged at Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk's site in Hillerod, Denmark, September 26, 2023. Novo said the trial would be halted almost a year early based on a recommendation from the independent data monitoring board overseeing the study. Independent monitors can recommend stopping a trial early if there is clear evidence that a drug was going to succeed or fail based on interim analyses. Semaglutide is also the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's powerful weight-loss drug Wegovy. Novo's success has also created an economic boom for Denmark, according to Danish economists, analysts, and executives at the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Persons: Tom Little, Novo, Danish drugmaker, Wegovy, Emily Field, Patrick Wingrove, Sriparna Roy, Bill Berkrot Organizations: REUTERS, Novo Nordisk, Barclays, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Thomson Locations: Hillerod, Denmark, Danish, New York, Bengaluru

☆ Novo Nordisk's Wegovy bonanza looms large in Denmark
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

COPENHAGEN, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The whirlwind success of weight-loss treatment Wegovy is providing a bonanza not just for its developer, Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), but also for its home country of Denmark. Interviews with Danish economists, analysts, and executives at the Novo Nordisk Foundation which controls Novo highlight the benefits to the economy from jobs to private wealth - but also the potential pitfalls of relying on a single, outsized company. Record profits for Novo are projected to generate returns for the Foundation of more than $12 billion in coming years. Novo Nordisk added 3,500 jobs in Denmark in 2022, bringing the total in the country to 21,000 employees, out of 59,000 worldwide, a company spokesperson said. Before Wegovy, "we used to be kind of, 'Isn't Denmark the place where Stockholm is the capital?'"

Persons: Danes, Lars Skovgaard Andersen, Lars Christensen, Wegovy, Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, " Thomsen, Moller, Thomsen, Melinda Gates, Rasmus Kristian Feldthusen, Maggie Fick, Jacob Gronholt, Alexander Smith, Josephine Mason, Michele Gershberg, Catherine Evans Organizations: Novo Nordisk, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Danske Bank, Copenhagen Business School, Novo, Foundation, Reuters, Novo Holdings, Carlsberg, Maersk, U.S, Melinda Gates Foundation, UK's Wellcome Trust, Wegovy, University of Copenhagen, Nokia, Pedersen, Thomson Locations: COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Danish, Novo, Europe, North America, Asia, OUTGROWING DENMARK, Finland

☆ Novo Nordisk owner readies for big Wegovy windfall
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

COPENHAGEN, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The CEO of Novo Holdings said on Tuesday the controlling shareholder of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) is ready for a huge windfall from the runaway success of weight-loss drug Wegovy. Novo Holdings invests and manages the wealth and assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, whose newly bulging coffers could make it a major philanthropist and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investor. He was speaking to a group of journalists in Copenhagen, where the investment company, its owner Novo Nordisk Foundation, and the drugmaker Novo Nordisk are all headquartered. [1/4]Novo Holdings A/S CEO Kasim Kutay speaks at Novo Nordisk Foundation in Hellerup, Denmark, October 3, 2023. Novo Holdings' early-stage investments team now has $200 million to deploy each year, Soren Moller, who heads the seed division, told Reuters.

Persons: Kasim Kutay, Wegovy, Kutay, I've, Morgan Stanley, Ali Withers, Peter Lawaetz Andersen, Andersen, Soren Moller, Maggie Fick, Josephine Mason, Louise Heavens, Catherine Evans Organizations: Novo Holdings, Novo Nordisk, Novo Nordisk Foundation, The Foundation, Holdings, Moelis, REUTERS, Foundation, Norway's Coalition, Reuters, Thomson Locations: COPENHAGEN, Danish, Copenhagen, Novo, United States, Hellerup, Denmark, Shanghai, China, Singapore, Boston, San Francisco

☆ Novo Nordisk owner invests $290 million in energy transition fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FILE PHOTO-A coffee machine featuring Novo Nordisk logo is seen at the company headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, February 5, 2020. REUTERS/Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Novo Nordisk A/S FollowLONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The controlling shareholder in drugmaker Novo Nordisk on Thursday announced a major investment in a new energy transition fund as it expands its portfolio beyond health. Novo Holdings controls 76% of the votes in Denmark's Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), which became Europe's most valuable company last week on the back of soaring profits from its weight-loss drug Wegovy and type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic. Novo Holdings' capital to invest is burgeoning on Novo Nordisk's financial performance. Novo Holdings is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which lists its aims as providing "a stable basis for the commercial and research activities conducted by the companies within the Novo Group", of which Novo Nordisk is the largest, and supporting "scientific, humanitarian, and social purposes."

Persons: Jacob Gronholt, Pedersen, Morten Beck Jorgensen, " Jorgensen, Maggie Fick, Amanda Cooper, Elaine Hardcastle Organizations: Novo Nordisk, REUTERS, drugmaker Novo Nordisk, Novo Holdings, Denmark's, Denmark's Novo Nordisk, Holdings, Glentra Capital, Glentra, Reuters, Novo, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Thomson Locations: Copenhagen, Denmark, drugmaker Novo, Denmark's Novo, Glentra Capital

☆ Statins lower the risk of one of the deadliest kinds of strokes, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Doctors know that drugs called statins lower a person’s risk of a stroke due to a blood clot. But a new study shows that the inexpensive medications can also decrease the risk of a first stroke as a result of an intracerebral hemorrhage, the deadliest kind. People in the study who used statins for any period of time had a 17% lower risk of a stroke in the lobe areas of the brain and a 16% lower risk of a stroke in the non-lobe areas of the brain. When they used a statin for more than five years, they had a 33% lower risk of a bleeding stroke in the lobe areas and a 38% lower risk in the non-lobe areas. She said this study shows what biologically makes sense: Taking statins and keeping fatty deposits from building up in the arteries makes hemorrhagic strokes less likely.

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