Tada,

You wrote "Take ASSURE for example, stated goal was .6% plaque regression over 6 months of dosing, we achieved .4% (which matched the best drug in the world at that time in ¼ of the time) and we saw the value of our company drop like a stone. When the full data set was disseminated some months later nobody really cared even though we had what seemed to be the best drug in the world for reducing arterial plaque."

You are failing to compare the placebo vs. the RVX-208 group in your statement. From this abstract of the ASSURE trial publication, you can see that there was no significant difference between placebo vs. RVX-208 treated. So it was not the magnitude of the treatment effect that led to a failure to achieve the primary endpoint, it was the failure to show an effect of RVX-208 beyond placebo alone.

"The primary endpoint, the change in percent atheroma volume, decreased 0.30% in placebo-treated patients (P = 0.23 compared with baseline) and 0.40% in the RVX-208 group (P = 0.08 compared with baseline), between groups P = 0.81. Total atheroma volume decreased 3.8 mm(3) in the placebo group (P = 0.01 compared with baseline) and 4.2 mm(3) in the RVX-208 group (P < 0.001 compared with baseline), P = 0.86 between groups. "