[graphene]

Thanks for your comment. As I said, it's understandable for your company to keep its software proprietary, after all Google for example, while a supporter of and contributor to open source, does not open source critical components of its business either.

On the wetware side, there is of course a similar incentive to keep the genetic sequences that result from your work private, in addition to perhaps ethical concerns regarding the dissemination of arbitrary DNA.

As a fellow software guy considering going into drug development research though, I do wonder: Given your mentioned open source credentials, it's probably plausible that you are at least sceptical about software patents? If so, what is your opinion on patents on drug molecules and DNA sequences? I'm struggling a bit with this since the only way to a big exit seems to involve protecting any findings as IP (because of the costs of the regulatory process), but I'm not sure I'd want my work to be patent-walled.

Do you know what you would do if you are one day faced with the choice of whether or not to patent one of your molecules or sequences, knowing that not doing so would have significant adverse financial effects on your company?

(This all may sound somewhat critical, but I'm really just curious. My email is in my profile if you prefer to respond privately.)