It may be helpful for avoiding high doses of statins in patients who do not meet cholesterol goals on low dose statin therapy alone.

CNN: Help me understand my cholesterol drugs

"We are clear to begin the next steps toward bringing the first weekly dose diabetes therapy to the market in the United States, " Amylin Chief Executive Daniel Bradbury said on a conference call with analysts.

WSJ: FDA Approves Amylin's Bydureon Diabetes Drug After Delays

Asthmatics, diabetics and even AIDS patients have been shown to arbitrarily reduce the dose or frequency of their therapy, or skip it altogether.

FORBES: Do We Need An Invisible Surgeon General?

Most prominently, teenager Jesse Gelsinger died from multiple organ failure a few days after receiving a massive dose of virus-based gene therapy in a trial at the University of Pennsylvania.

FORBES: Glaxo Brings Gene Therapy Back From The Dead

Some doctors have been using Vytorin as a first-line therapy because it's so easy to give: The lowest dose of this combo pill lowers cholesterol better than higher doses of the other medicines, with fewer side effects.

FORBES: The Vytorin Consensus

Such a physician might be able to guide the parents of colicky babies through a difficult time that is (mercifully) usually transient, and could also help patients requiring hormone replacement therapy (whether for low thyroid hormone levels or low testosterone levels) decide what replacement dose makes sense, and reach a conclusion that would be informed by numeric criteria but not exclusively defined by it.

FORBES: Are doctors over-responsive to patients -- or not attentive enough? (Answer: yes.)