Regarding the pharmaceutical industry, there's a lot of redundancy. As soon as one company develops a blockbuster molecule, others begin testing chemically simi

Regarding the pharmaceutical industry, there's a lot of redundancy. As soon as one company develops a blockbuster molecule, others begin testing chemically similar molecules, hoping to "get in" on the category (e.g. statins). This is because there's a higher rate of success in developing a profitable brand in an established category where one successful molecule is already known. It's not necessarily a bad thing-- for example, it's quite good that Lexapro is available for those who might otherwise resort to the older and more side-effect-ridden Prozac-- but this leads to a proliferation of very similar molecules and devices, instead of research into entirely new approaches. In other words, the market ends up favoring optimization and refinement over innovation.