[refurb]

Look at the GLP-1s. Lilly spent tens hundreds of millions developing an oral version that was otherwise the same as the injectable’s.

And the notorious inhaled insulin that Pfizer launch (and horribly failed).

There are many ways to differentiate drugs, not just efficacy.

[bonsai_spool]

You are correct. I disagree with alternatives being better as a rule but these are clearly areas where there's a market (to wit, people don't like injecting themselves and prefer pills).

[jleyank]

Novo Nordisk was first to market with a pill-form for GLP-1 as I recall.