[sodii]

'algorithm' in that context is not a computer program, but a flow chart or decision tree made by distilling the result of various medical trials.

[to11mtm]

> but a flow chart or decision tree made by distilling the result of various medical trials.

I think you misspelled 'marketing materials' on one side or the other here.

[sodii]

Whether to take a cholesterol-reducing drug is pretty big decision, and no sane person would make such decision based on marketing materials.

the algorithms come from academic societies, and looks like this:

https://www.acc.org/~/media/Non-Clinical/Files-PDFs-Excel-MS...

Many marketing materials contain cheatsheets for such established decision algorithms, to encourage doctors keep the material around.