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another—at least in molecular terms. The differentiator
becomes price, accessibility, and delivery context.

This levels the playing field—but it also flattens the value
of exclusivity.

In short, edible biologics don’t break intellectual
property law. They bend around it.

They reveal that much of pharma’s value proposition is not
in the molecule itself—but in the legal frameworks that
protect it.

And when those frameworks no longer apply, companies
are forced to compete on something far more
uncomfortable:

The actual value they deliver to patients.

6.4 – Patenting the “How” not the “What”

In pharma, exclusivity is everything. Not just because it
protects the science—but because it protects the margins.

If anyone can replicate what you’re doing—if they can
express the same protein, deliver it the same way,
manufacture it at the same quality—you don’t make any
money. Period. The price floor crashes, the product
becomes commoditized, and the incentive to innovate
vanishes. The entire model of modern drug development—
billions in R&D, years of trials, global distribution—
depends on one core reality:

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