Latest news with #Orbis
The Star
2 days ago
- Health
- The Star
Rwanda launches airborne eye hospital training program
KIGALI, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda has launched a two-week medical treatment and training program aboard the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, a fully accredited ophthalmic teaching hospital on a converted MD-10 aircraft, at Kigali International Airport in the Rwandan capital. This marks the first time the flying eye hospital has landed in Rwanda. The initiative aims to strengthen the skills of local eye care teams, raise awareness about eye health, and expand access to sight-saving care across the country. The aircraft is equipped with a state-of-the-art operating theater, a classroom, and an advanced simulation center, allowing for both hands-on treatment and immersive medical education. Orbis International, a non-profit organization, operates the flying hospital around the world, providing eye care and specialist training to underserved communities. On Tuesday, Rwandan Minister of Health Sabin Nsanzimana emphasized the country's need for more eye care specialists. "Rwanda currently has only 30 ophthalmologists for a population of over 13 million. Our goal is to increase that number to at least 70," he said. As part of the program, Orbis clinical staff and volunteer medical faculty will lead simulation-based training, hands-on surgical practice, and specialized workshops. These will focus on various ophthalmic subspecialties, including strabismus, cataract surgery, oculoplastics, and medical retina care. Ciku Mathenge, medical advisor for Orbis in Africa, highlighted the introduction of cutting-edge simulation technology and the involvement of international experts, which will empower Rwandan ophthalmologists to deliver high-quality eye care within their communities. She noted that over the past four years, Orbis has trained doctors from across the region, including Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria, Zambia, and Burundi, in techniques such as laser treatments and monoclonal antibody injections. More than 40 surgeries are expected to be performed between Tuesday and Friday aboard the flying eye hospital and at Kibagabaga Hospital, the host health facility in Kigali. Since their arrival on July 18, Orbis professionals have already trained over 1,000 Rwandan healthcare workers, according to event organizers.
Straits Times
16-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Tetra Pak family quietly pours $11.6 billion into stocks, with bulk via Singapore entities
KUALA LUMPUR – An entity based in the heart of Singapore's financial district emerged as the biggest shareholder in International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) nine years ago. It turned out that the owner was the Rausing family, which hails from Sweden and made a fortune from Tetra Pak cartons. It's now also clear that the stake was one of the first public disclosures about how the media-shy clan deploys its billions. Today, the family has amassed a stock portfolio worth around US$9 billion (S$11.6 billion) and spanning more than 100 companies in Europe and the US, according to a Bloomberg analysis of regulatory filings. Through entities in Liechtenstein, Singapore and Switzerland the Rausings have a US$1.9 billion stake in IFF, US$2.4 billion in industrial-gas company Linde and US$2.2 billion in flavour-maker Givaudan and smaller holdings in companies from Apple to Wells Fargo & Co., regulatory filings show. The scale of these bets, which hasn't previously been reported, and the entities that hold them highlight the growing sophistication in how some of the world's richest families manage their money, and the broader boom in the family office industry. The vast majority of the US$9 billion is concentrated in just five stocks: IFF, Linde, Givaudan, Sensient Technologies, which makes specialty ingredients, and consumer-packaging company SIG Group. Those investments have been held by Singapore companies that ultimately are controlled by a Liechtenstein entity called Haldor Foundation. Filings in Singapore show that two subsidiaries in the Republic – Winder Investments Pte. and Winder Pte. – periodically received infusions of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, respectively. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore July BTO launch to have over 4,600 balance flats, 2 BTO projects with under than 3-year wait Singapore Acute psychiatry services to be expanded across all healthcare clusters: MOH Singapore 'Kpods broke our marriage, shattered our children': Woman on husband's vape addiction Singapore Asia-Pacific will need over 230k new pilots, 250k aircraft maintenance technicians by 2042: ICAO chief Business Tycoon Robert Kuok's daughter Kuok Hui Kwong appointed CEO of Shangri-La Asia Singapore Alleged Toa Payoh cat killer and abuser handed new charge of torturing sixth cat Life Walking for exercise? Here are tips on how to do it properly Multimedia Telling the Singapore story for 180 years A Switzerland-based investment firm called Longbow Finance held a portfolio of about 80 US-traded securities that added up to US$835 million as of March 31. Longbow has catered to the Rausing family's wealth for decades. Another Swiss investment firm, called Freemont Management, also held a broad portfolio of securities worth US$304 million at the end of March. Freemont was established in 1994 and was recorded as a subsidiary of Tetra Laval as recently as May 2025, according to Orbis, a database of company data. The disclosures only comprise holdings in publicly traded securities that meet certain thresholds for size or complexity. It's possible that the three entities hold investments in other assets with different transparency rules. It's difficult to discern how the bets have played out because the filings largely show their present value but often not their purchase price. But the portfolio has kept growing regardless of share prices. The source of the money remains unclear, like much else about the finances of the Rausings and Tetra Laval. The closely held company doesn't disclose its complete results, so it's not possible to determine how much of its potential profits is distributed to the owners. It's also not clear which family members are the ultimate beneficiaries of the three investment entities. Previous news reports have named Finn, Jorn, and Kirsten Rausing, grandchildren of Tetra Laval founder Ruben Rausing, as the beneficiaries of Haldor. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index credits each of the siblings with one-third of Tetra Laval, which helps put their respective net worth at about US$5.9 billion. But the index doesn't allocate them a specific slice of either of the three investment firms. The siblings, who are in their 60s and 70s, came in line to take over the business after their father, Gad Rausing, bought out their uncle in 1995. Gad's father, Ruben, was born in the small community of Raus in southern Sweden in 1895. He spent several years in New York where he studied at Columbia University. He saw the city's self-service grocery stores and figured the concept would soon be adopted in Europe, which would drastically increase demand for hygienic and practical consumer-sized packages of grocery staples. He returned home and started a packaging company. The tetrahedron-shaped milk carton, developed in the 1940s and 1950s, became a breakthrough product. In 2024, the company produced 178 billion packs and collected US$18.5 billion of revenue. BLOOMBERG
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Orbis Medicines Accelerates Next-Generation Oral Macrocycle Platform with Enhanced Artificial Intelligence Capabilities of Gefion Supercomputer
Orbis begins using Gefion, Denmark's first AI supercomputer Composed of 1,528 NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs, system is optimized for large-scale, AI-driven projects Enables significant expansion of macrocycle chemical space exploration by Orbis' nGen platform New AI/ML capacity will leverage large proprietary datasets and generative AI to design novel orally available macrocycle alternatives to existing biologics COPENHAGEN, Denmark, June 03, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Orbis Medicines, a leader in oral macrocycle drug discovery, and the Danish Center for AI Innovation (DCAI) today announced that Orbis has begun using Denmark's first AI supercomputer, Gefion, which is owned and operated by DCAI. Gefion will allow the company to accelerate its mission of developing oral alternatives to widely used biologics and targeting important intra- and extracellular proteins that are currently difficult or impossible to drug with orally bioavailable compounds. Orbis is pioneering the systematic discovery and development of targeted, orally available macrocycles for diseases and targets traditionally treated with biologics. The company develops compounds known as nCycles, which can address a wide range of validated protein targets with unique oral bioavailability and membrane permeability features. "Our advanced nGen platform helps us quickly create large numbers of custom-designed macrocycles with unique properties and broad medical applicability," said Orbis CEO Morten Graugaard. "By combining this platform with Gefion's computing power, we can extend beyond the nearly 140 billion compounds in our existing libraries to design entirely new collections of these molecules. This means we can explore an even broader range of chemical possibilities and more fully unlock the potential of macrocycles to improve healthcare." "Orbis' nGen platform, which has already been used to design, synthesize and test more than 700,000 individual nCycles, is an ideal application for Gefion's capabilities," said Orbis Medicines Board Chair Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D. "Combining the power of this supercomputer with our in-house target nCycle data collection, generative AI, and nCycle synthesis capabilities will accelerate the development of orally available macrocycles that have the potential to disrupt the current biologics market and provide new treatment options for patients." "Gefion is designed to deliver AI innovation at scale through immense computing power applied to the most challenging problems," said Dr. Nadia Carlsten, CEO of DCAI. "As a biomedical start-up with its own internal AI technology applied to drug design and the ability to generate vast data sets, Orbis is an ideal partner to demonstrate what Gefion can unlock when matched with specialist expertise." DCAI's Gefion supercomputer contains 1,528 NVIDIA GPUs and is optimized for large-scale AI-driven projects. Gefion enables innovators to utilize advanced computation to accelerate discovery in various fields, including biotechnology and drug discovery. Gefion has previously been used by researchers, start-ups, and large enterprises to develop new AI models and perform simulations in weather modeling, quantum computing, and business automation. About Orbis Medicines Orbis Medicines is pioneering a new era for oral macrocycle drug discovery. Its nGen platform systematically delivers macrocycle candidates, termed nCycles. These are optimized for oral bioavailability, which has historically hindered therapeutic development of this versatile class of molecules. Orbis' pipeline is initially focused on nCycle candidates against targets validated by blockbuster biologic drugs delivered by injection. Proof-of-concept of Orbis' work has been published in Nature Communications and Nature Chemical Biology. The company has raised €116 million in venture funding to date, including a €90 million series A round led by NEA with new investors Lilly Ventures, Cormorant, EIFO and existing investors Forbion and Novo Holdings. Orbis is located in Copenhagen, Denmark and Lausanne, Switzerland. For more information, please visit: About nGen nGen is Orbis Medicines' technology platform for generating nCycles, a new class of fully synthetic macrocycle compounds optimized for oral bioavailability and membrane permeability. It consists of multiple proprietary integrated elements in a "lab in a loop" system starting with hit finding libraries of 100 billion compounds and target specific libraries designed by generative AI. The highly automated chemistry-based nGen platform can synthesize and screen up to 100,000 distinct synthetic macrocycles in weeks, allowing the company to discover candidates with the right properties to enable oral dosing and intracellular targeting. The scale and quality of the data produced from these real compounds, paired with machine learning and generative AI, creates an industry-leading platform that de-risks and accelerates development. About DCAI The Danish Centre for AI Innovation (DCAI) owns and operates Gefion, Denmark's flagship AI supercomputer, designed specifically for large-scale AI projects. Gefion ranks among the most powerful supercomputers globally powered by 1.528 NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs. DCAI's mission is to lower the barrier for accessing advanced computing capabilities, enabling customers to innovate and fostering ecosystem growth. DCAI customers include academic researchers, startups, government institutions, and enterprise customers doing large scale innovation. DCAI was formed as a company and funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and EIFO in 2024. View source version on Contacts Media: Matt CrensonTen Bridge Communications(917) 640-7930mcrenson@ General enquiries for DCAI & Gefion hello@ (+45) 35 27 66 00 Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Wire
03-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Orbis Medicines Accelerates Next-Generation Oral Macrocycle Platform with Enhanced Artificial Intelligence Capabilities of Gefion Supercomputer
COPENHAGEN, Denmark--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Orbis Medicines, a leader in oral macrocycle drug discovery, and the Danish Center for AI Innovation (DCAI) today announced that Orbis has begun using Denmark's first AI supercomputer, Gefion, which is owned and operated by DCAI. Gefion will allow the company to accelerate its mission of developing oral alternatives to widely used biologics and targeting important intra- and extracellular proteins that are currently difficult or impossible to drug with orally bioavailable compounds. Orbis is pioneering the systematic discovery and development of targeted, orally available macrocycles for diseases and targets traditionally treated with biologics. The company develops compounds known as n Cycles, which can address a wide range of validated protein targets with unique oral bioavailability and membrane permeability features. 'Our advanced n Gen platform helps us quickly create large numbers of custom-designed macrocycles with unique properties and broad medical applicability,' said Orbis CEO Morten Graugaard. 'By combining this platform with Gefion's computing power, we can extend beyond the nearly 140 billion compounds in our existing libraries to design entirely new collections of these molecules. This means we can explore an even broader range of chemical possibilities and more fully unlock the potential of macrocycles to improve healthcare.' 'Orbis' n Gen platform, which has already been used to design, synthesize and test more than 700,000 individual n Cycles, is an ideal application for Gefion's capabilities,' said Orbis Medicines Board Chair Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D. 'Combining the power of this supercomputer with our in-house target n Cycle data collection, generative AI, and n Cycle synthesis capabilities will accelerate the development of orally available macrocycles that have the potential to disrupt the current biologics market and provide new treatment options for patients.' 'Gefion is designed to deliver AI innovation at scale through immense computing power applied to the most challenging problems,' said Dr. Nadia Carlsten, CEO of DCAI. 'As a biomedical start-up with its own internal AI technology applied to drug design and the ability to generate vast data sets, Orbis is an ideal partner to demonstrate what Gefion can unlock when matched with specialist expertise.' DCAI's Gefion supercomputer contains 1,528 NVIDIA GPUs and is optimized for large-scale AI-driven projects. Gefion enables innovators to utilize advanced computation to accelerate discovery in various fields, including biotechnology and drug discovery. Gefion has previously been used by researchers, start-ups, and large enterprises to develop new AI models and perform simulations in weather modeling, quantum computing, and business automation. About Orbis Medicines Orbis Medicines is pioneering a new era for oral macrocycle drug discovery. Its n Gen platform systematically delivers macrocycle candidates, termed n Cycles. These are optimized for oral bioavailability, which has historically hindered therapeutic development of this versatile class of molecules. Orbis' pipeline is initially focused on n Cycle candidates against targets validated by blockbuster biologic drugs delivered by injection. Proof-of-concept of Orbis' work has been published in Nature Communications and Nature Chemical Biology. The company has raised €116 million in venture funding to date, including a €90 million series A round led by NEA with new investors Lilly Ventures, Cormorant, EIFO and existing investors Forbion and Novo Holdings. Orbis is located in Copenhagen, Denmark and Lausanne, Switzerland. For more information, please visit: About n Gen n Gen is Orbis Medicines' technology platform for generating n Cycles, a new class of fully synthetic macrocycle compounds optimized for oral bioavailability and membrane permeability. It consists of multiple proprietary integrated elements in a 'lab in a loop' system starting with hit finding libraries of 100 billion compounds and target specific libraries designed by generative AI. The highly automated chemistry-based n Gen platform can synthesize and screen up to 100,000 distinct synthetic macrocycles in weeks, allowing the company to discover candidates with the right properties to enable oral dosing and intracellular targeting. The scale and quality of the data produced from these real compounds, paired with machine learning and generative AI, creates an industry-leading platform that de-risks and accelerates development. About DCAI The Danish Centre for AI Innovation (DCAI) owns and operates Gefion, Denmark's flagship AI supercomputer, designed specifically for large-scale AI projects. Gefion ranks among the most powerful supercomputers globally powered by 1.528 NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs. DCAI's mission is to lower the barrier for accessing advanced computing capabilities, enabling customers to innovate and fostering ecosystem growth. DCAI customers include academic researchers, startups, government institutions, and enterprise customers doing large scale innovation. DCAI was formed as a company and funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and EIFO in 2024.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Japanese Beauty Group Pola Orbis to Dissolve Chinese Subsidiary
The Japanese beauty company Pola Orbis Holdings has decided to shut down Orbis Beijing Inc., the group's China subsidiary in charge of its Orbis brand. The company will also shut down the brand's online retail operations. Its official Tmall store and Douyin store will stop taking orders by June 30, according to Orbis' e-commerce customer service. More from WWD McKinsey Releases Annual Future of Wellness Report, Citing 6 Key Areas of Opportunity, Shifting Shopping Habits and the Different Types of Health Consumers EXCLUSIVE: Pamela Anderson Becomes Biolage's First Global Ambassador How Aora Is Making Plastic-free Clean Beauty Cool, as It Enters the United States With a New Chili-infused Volumizing Lip Serum 'With the Chinese economy stagnating and competition in the e-commerce market becoming increasingly intense, it is difficult to foresee an immediate improvement in profitability, and the group has been compelled to reduce the scale of business,' said the company in a press release. Pola Orbis has yet to determine the dissolution date and will be working with the local authority to complete the necessary legal procedures, according to the press release. As a result, the company will record an extraordinary loss of around 1.3 billion yen, or $8.9 million, in its consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ending December 2025. The loss will be offset by a 1.6 billion yen, or $11 million, in corporate tax deduction, which leaves the company's overall earnings forecast, which was published in February, unchanged. The Beijing subsidiary, established in 2008, has been in charge of operating the Orbis brand in China. The company has suffered a loss for three consecutive years, from 2022 to 2024, leaving the company with net liabilities of 3.33 billion yen, or $22.9 million. Pola Orbis entered the Chinese market in 2004 by setting up a subsidiary for its Pola brand in Shanghai. In November, the company established a new subsidiary based in Japan to oversee its China business. The reorganization comes as the company moves toward its 'Vision 2029' strategy to 'develop the cosmetics business globally; reform and enhance the brand portfolio,' 'create new value and expand business domains,' and 'strengthen research and technical strategy,' the press release noted. The J-beauty giant is not only facing trouble in China, but it is also undergoing a reorganization process to enhance brand value. In recent years, the group axed beauty brands such as H2O+, Amplitude and Itrim to focus on its flagship brands, including Pola, Orbis, Jurlique, as well as newly developed brands such as Three, Decencia, Fujima and Fiveism x Three. For the three months ended March 31, the company reported a 1 percent increase in net sales, but profit attributable to owners fell by 58.1 percent. Best of WWD Which Celebrity Brands Are Next for a Major Deal? Lady Gaga, Beyonce and More Possible Contenders for the Next Corporate Prize The Best Makeup Looks in Golden Globes History A Look Back at Golden Globes Best Makeup on the Red Carpet, From Megan Fox to Sophia Loren [PHOTOS] Sign in to access your portfolio
