Last week, a federal judge did mega-drugmaker Pfizer a huge favor by protecting Lipitor -- its cash cow with worldwide annual sales hitting $11 billion -- from competition from generics for five more years.

In a big blow to fledgling generic drug firms attempting to grab a bigger piece of the pharmaceutical pie, Judge Joseph Farnan struck down two patent requests from Ranbaxy, an India-based generic drug company.

And, why wouldn't Lipitor vigorously defend its patent? Lipitor is a drug designed to be taken for life to cure a symptom -- lowering your cholesterol -- that has nothing to do with addressing the real problem: Protecting your heart and your health.

Fact is, elevated cholesterol levels are among the easiest problems to treat, without drugs, by reducing, with the plan of eliminating, your intake of grains and sugars and starting an exercise program today.

If you're curious why drug-based solutions like statins help drug companies far more than they do you, I urge you to review my statins page, full of links to many more articles that will explain why you should be so concerned.

Forbes.com December 16, 2005