Ask anyone who works in the research department of a large pharmaceutical company tasked with developing drugs based on papers published by academic scientists.
Those who supply this information include Cancer Research UK (the most important research organisation), theDepartment of Health, Wellcome Trust and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.
But another study, by researchers at thedepartment of Veterans Affairs, puts the focus on a far older class of drugs, which are thepharmaceutical industry's perennial bestsellers for stopping another killer, heart disease--statins.