RE:ASSURE vs SATURN: Food For ThoughtSATURN trial only looked at IVUS effects after 2 years of treatment. There was no measurement made between the initial baseline IVUS scan and the post-2 year scan.
I don't think it is fair to say RVX-208 is acting too slow. I don't know of ANY orally available drug that has shown plaque regression in 6 months (including statins). So the only disappointment is that RVX-208 wasn't able to lay claim as the first drug to do this (I am not counting infusion therapies here.....I don't see these being a viable therapy for the masses).
Right now we can only guess how RVX-208 would behave in a 9-month, 12-month, or 24-month study.