In the bio/pharma scene, this is most cruelly illustrated (in recent times) with this example failure: https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/05/18

In the bio/pharma scene, this is most cruelly illustrated (in recent times) with this example failure: https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/05/18/now-this-is-a-drug-that-does-not-work https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/05/18/no... tldr: - statins have a measurable effect on HDL and LDL levels that correlates really well with how much they reduce your risk of dying, and that risk reduction is real and big. - therefore HDL/LDL levels shall be a great surrogate metric for new drugs; let's go find some. - we found this great drug that does even better than statins do at HDL/LDL level changes - two years and 12k patients in trials later: this new drug doesn't affect mortality literally at all. - ...crap.