I read a "negative result" as different from a "failed result".
A negative result, which has scientific value but no patent value, would be something like, "We have conclusively shown that blood-letting by leeches is not an effective treatment for fever."
A failed result, on the other hand, would read more like "We were unable to conclusively determine one way or the other, but here's the method we used"
You could certainly publish the former (back in a time where that wasn't already accepted fact in the scientific/medical community), but it's unclear how you'd apply that to the patent (or even market) realm. You can't patent "stopping doing something".
A negative result, which has scientific value but no patent value, would be something like, "We have conclusively shown that blood-letting by leeches is not an effective treatment for fever."
A failed result, on the other hand, would read more like "We were unable to conclusively determine one way or the other, but here's the method we used"
You could certainly publish the former (back in a time where that wasn't already accepted fact in the scientific/medical community), but it's unclear how you'd apply that to the patent (or even market) realm. You can't patent "stopping doing something".