2nd Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit to Kick off on Wednesday

A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AFP file photo)
A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AFP file photo)
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2nd Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit to Kick off on Wednesday

A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AFP file photo)
A general view of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AFP file photo)

Saudi Minister of the National Guard Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz will inaugurate on Wednesday the second Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit.

The two-day event will be held under the patronage of Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and attract elite scientists and experts in the field.

The summit aims to discuss current practices and the future of the medical biotechnology sector to consolidate Saudi Arabia's position as a global biotechnology portal.

In strategic partnership with the Ministry of Investment, the summit seeks to act as a global platform for proposing innovative models for the sector's challenges, creating investment opportunities in the health industry, and signing agreements with major companies in this area in a way that positively reflects on human health in Saudi Arabia and the world at large.

To achieve these goals, biomedical and health research experts, doctors, pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry experts, representatives of health institutions, and research and development experts from around the world will participate in scientific panel discussions on five key themes: cell and gene therapy, vaccines for infectious diseases, vaccines for cancer, genomics and precision medicine for rare diseases, and clinical trials and real-world evidence.

The summit aligns with the Saudi Vision 2030, which seeks to strengthen the national economy based on research, knowledge, and research industries. It also represents an extension of the progress of national initiatives concerned with developing the Kingdom's biotechnological medical system.



Trump Launches His Own Meme Coin, Value Soars

US President-elect Donald Trump views fireworks at Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Sterling, Virginia, US, January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
US President-elect Donald Trump views fireworks at Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Sterling, Virginia, US, January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump Launches His Own Meme Coin, Value Soars

US President-elect Donald Trump views fireworks at Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Sterling, Virginia, US, January 18, 2025. (Reuters)
US President-elect Donald Trump views fireworks at Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Sterling, Virginia, US, January 18, 2025. (Reuters)

US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, appropriately called $TRUMP, sparking feverish buying that sent its market capitalization soaring on Saturday to several billion dollars.

In a message posted on his Truth Social platform and X, Trump unveiled the so-called meme coin, which is designed to capitalize on the popularity of a certain personality, movement or viral internet trend.

Meme coins have no economic or transactional value, and are often seen as a means of speculative trading.

"This Trump Meme celebrates a leader who doesn't back down, no matter the odds," says the coin's official site, which makes reference to the assassination attempt against the Republican in July 2024.

In the hours following the overnight launch, the crypto community posed questions about the legitimacy of the $TRUMP coin, and its actual link to the president-elect, with some fearing a scam.

But the fact that the announcements came on Trump's official social media channels seemed to reassure the market, as did the fact that Trump has used one of the companies behind the project, CIC Digital LLC, in the past to sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

By mid-morning on Saturday, the market capitalization for $TRUMP stood at nearly $6 billion.

Neither Trump nor the company managing the launch, Fight Fight Fight LLC, offered details about how much he made from the initial batch of meme coins released.

The coin's official site said 200 million meme coins were issued, with Fight Fight Fight saying an additional 800 million would be added over the next three years.

At the current rate, the coins not yet on the market would be worth about $24 billion.

Initially opposed to cryptocurrency, Trump made a sharp about-face during his 2024 presidential campaign, becoming a champion of the concept and promising to develop the sector, notably by loosening regulations.

Before this new announcement, businessmen linked to Trump had in October put online a crypto platform called World Liberty Financial.