Are you claiming that the existing statins address all relevant cases?
> which shows the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of US$235.4 billion
That's a non sequitor.
> Finally, the NIH is picking up most of the tab for fundamental research
"fundamental research" isn't a significant fraction of the cost of drug development, aka "getting a drug into the pharmacy".
Are you claiming that the existing statins address all relevant cases?
> which shows the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of US$235.4 billion
That's a non sequitor.
> Finally, the NIH is picking up most of the tab for fundamental research
"fundamental research" isn't a significant fraction of the cost of drug development, aka "getting a drug into the pharmacy".