Did you get to meet the Diwan, the researcher of the year? Was he laughing about the tens of millions of $$$$ he's taken from NNVC through payments to Theracour, stock sales, salaries, etc.
You do not run a scam and build a state of the art lab.
In the world of biowrecks, building a state of the art lab is ESSENTIAL to keeping the gravy train rolling full steam. The best time-tested method is to incorporate as much delays as possible because management literally gets paid millions from the delays. If it's so easy for a retail shareholder to understand the delays, why is Seymour always so dumbfounded and surprised when they happen?
Once the lab is done and human trials fails, the gravy train is derailed. It's much better to build a shiny new lab that takes many years to be ready. It's on the shareholder's dime anyway so why the hell not?