Another week, another set of studies calling into question the benefits and risks of a widely used drug. This time it's Vytorin, a cholesterol-lowering drug that combines a statin (in this case Zocor) with a drug that lowers bad cholesterol a different way (Zetia, aka ezetimibe).

As usual, the story is getting political (Congressional hearings to determine whether negative data was withheld) and financial (shares in drugmakers Merck and Schering-Plough tanked with the news).

But let's strip...