The whole cholesterol/CHD/statin business is a meme VERY firmly entrenched in the medical communiity so it will not be going away for quite a while yet even without Big Pharma's "helping hand".
For those not familiar with the concept of a MEME (and also those who are) please find time to watch this interesting talk which I found linked from Dr Eade's blog :
*http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/116
Brian.