Nobody's questioning whether these things are non-trivial or high-value. There are very legitimate questions to be asked, though, especially regarding patentabi

Nobody's questioning whether these things are non-trivial or high-value. There are very legitimate questions to be asked, though, especially regarding patentability and profitability. There are many other fields with very high barriers to entry and which require very large R&D budgets, but which - unlike the prescription drug market - nonetheless manage to attract competitiors: The semiconductor industry, for example, comes to mind.