Month: September 2022

UNIT PRICING STARTED WITH NAILS. Nails used to be sold by the pound, until they appeared in tidy unit packs of small numbers, which quietly caused a large jump in price per pound. Cat food has followed the same trend with one serving units costing out at good quality steak per pound. This trend is inevitable in pharmaceuticals, and other commodities seeking to extract greater value per item. View in LinkedIn

THE SANOFI MAKEOVER IS IN PROCESS (WSJ MAY 3, 2013). Facing the Patent Cliff on a whopping 30% of their products in 2008, or nearly €800 M, today this has almost zeroed out. As part of the remake it adopted outsourcing and in-licensing (at last), took up an interest in rare diseases (the low hanging fruit are long gone), animal health, consumer medicine, and (of course) sales in emerging markets. Extreme pain can prompt even the most staid groups to take drastic steps to avoid a face-plant. View in LinkedIn

BRITAIN'S CLIMATE HAS DEFINITELY CHANGED. The long warm summers of my youth, with temperate and scented days are not just the fond memories of an older man, but an emerging fact. Today, the amount of rain has increased, dramatically, and flash-floods, which were unheard of, are not uncommon. The recent TV images of Cornish cars floating down a village river were deeply unsettling to me. This appears to really be more than just wistful thinking of a rose-colored youth. View in LinkedIn

LINKEDIN NETWORKS ARE AN EXAMPLE OF A VALUABLE PICTOGRAM. Huge amounts of data sorted in a visually effective manner. http://lnkd.in/qmfZ-v View in LinkedIn

"THE MAP MUST BE WRONG". We all know people who live by this mantra. The finger points outward first, inward last. Beware the type. View in LinkedIn

MAY 5th, JAPAN'GOLDEN WEEK ENDS WITH THE DAY OF THE CHILD. This family-centric longest Japanese holiday is a combination of four celebrations, and is a chance to visit family and vacation. The last day celebrates the happiness of the children and gratitude to all mothers. On the 4th in Tokyo was an elaborate three and a half hour procession of marching children's bands View in LinkedIn

A FAMOUS SCIENTIST IN THE LATE 1980'S answered a competitor's request for a sample of his new plasmid with a harsh 'no'. The competitor put the letter into a gentle solvent buffer and extracted enough plasmid to conduct his experiment, and then gave credits in the footnotes. This charming anecdote happens to be true but the names are withheld for discretion's sake. View in LinkedIn

JAPAN IS AN ISLAND WITH CURIOUS CONSTRAINTS. It has no energy resources, so is the leading coal and liquified natural gas importer, second oil importer, and consequently has a nuclear power policy. It does not farm animals to a great extent and imports 60% of its calories (except rice), and with the world's largest fishing fleet, this 1.8% of the world's population eats 15% of the annual world fish catch. With 98.5% of Japanese ethnicity, and an elderly bubble, it must face a change immigration to endure s future workforce and tax base. These constrains significantly shape its choices. View in LinkedIn

JAPAN'S RANKING AS THE THIRD WORLD ECONOMY after the US snd China is remarkable for a population of 127 M living on an island s bit smaller than California. After the devastation of the war, they decided that hard work was the sacrifice required to rebuild their society. Along with only 1% of GDP going to military costs, they entered a three decade period of unprecedented growth, slowing in the 1990s. The Innovation Network Corporation of Japan's (INCJ) was recently created to stimulate the economy. As a 22 Bn USD VC fund it is the largest in the world. Plus doubling the money supply. Bold! View in LinkedIn

THE FOUNDER OF JAPAN'S 22 Bn USD INCJ VC FUND is a super-smart man of about 47. Over lunch, Mr Sato disclosed to me some of the issues they face to innovate the economy. First, entrepreneurial talent is hard to find. Big company experts do not always learn to be entrepreneurs. Like Spain, the word ambition is synonymous with greed, and the nail that sticks up gets hammered in these group-centric family based societies. He believes that 'networking horizontally' across disciplines will bear fruit. He is focused on the early stage life science ecosystem, especially pluripotent stem cells. View in LinkedIn