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● A shift from exclusivity to replicability.

This isn’t a “pipeline asset.” It’s a platform shift.

And for Big Pharma, that presents a problem: there’s no
clear blockbuster waiting at the end of the tunnel. No $20
billion drug like Humira. No fast-follow biosimilar
strategy. No delivery device that can be patented and
marked up for reimbursement.

Instead, edible biologics threaten to compress margins,
increase transparency, and erode exclusivity. That’s not
the kind of disruption legacy pharma is built to embrace.

The Default Strategy: Wait and Watch

So what do they do?

They wait.
They watch.
They avoid.

Let startups fight for regulatory clarity.
Let governments take the public health risk.
Let nonprofits prove that local manufacturing can work.

And if it all pans out—if the science holds, if the regulators
approve, if the payers accept the model—they’ll consider
stepping in.

But by then, they won’t be leading.
They’ll be following.

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