> This is not necessarily true. In biotech/pharma research, it is absolutely true. If a competitor's patent lands first on targeted genes/proteins/etc. it can

> This is not necessarily true. In biotech/pharma research, it is absolutely true. If a competitor's patent lands first on targeted genes/proteins/etc. it can shut down an entire lab's line of work permanently. The staff involved usually get reshuffled to other lines of interest, and any work they'd done is simply written off, never to see the light of day.