Patents only cover processes I think ? For instance Kodak was first on the ground with their digital camera, but we all know how it went. The same way pharmace

Patents only cover processes I think ? For instance Kodak was first on the ground with their digital camera, but we all know how it went. The same way pharmaceutical companies patent drugs but it doesn’t stop a rival company from doing their own development cycle and coming up with a competing drug based on the same molecule.