If you define "preventative" to mean "lifestyle factors", then you are correct that drug companies won't spend much effort researching them. Similarly, if you define "search" to mean "searching for oil", then Google doesn't do much research on search.
You may disagree with the colloquial usage/meaning of the word "preventative," but in the context of health care, I'd argue it's a worrisome sign when the scope of that word expands from lifestyle changes (which even doctor friends would often argue for) to also include drug interventions. Though certainly the pharma industry would love that being true.
Disagree with your other analogy: I don't think anyone outside the oil industry would confuse the word "search" to mean surveying for oil. Oil-men have their own vocabulary for that anyway.
