"Seems like pretty tepid results to me...am I missing something??" 

Yes I agree some of these VERTIS-CV/ertugliflozin effects seem modest compared to other SGLT2 inhibitors.  Here is a PDF version of the VERTIS-CV/ertugliflozin trial presented at ADA 2020.

https://www.acc.org/education-and-meetings/image-and-slide-gallery/media-detail?id=307A7E103BC04A588A3370709253FC35

There are now 4 SGLT2 inhibitors that have completed cardiovascular outcomes trials. I'm not going to elaborate in this post, but if you are interested you can dig into the details. It is a very comprehensive presentation that covers not only VERTIS-CV (slides 1-58) but also an updated meta-analysis that also includes empagliflozin, dapagliflozin and canagliflozin CVOTs (slides 59-72), and some overall SGLT2i class conclusions for all 4 (slides 73-88). There are some differences in the magnitude of the relative risk reduction as well as which MACE endpoints (CV death, non-fatal-MI, non-fatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure) were modulated by each drug, so take a look if interested.

"I think we can do much better."

Yes, with the proper patient population (e.g. diabetics on statin with CKD) and/or combo with other drugs (e.g. SGLT2 inhibitors, DPP4 inhibitors) apabetalone can do much better.

Resverlogix hasn't mentioned anything yet to my knowledge about apabetalone synergy with GLP1R-agonists. This is notable because the DPP4i work by inhibiting this peptidase and preventing it from cleaving GLP1 and GIP to their inactive forms. The GLP1-R agonists are another effective diabetes drug class that have been shown to lower cardiovascular events. DPP4 inhibitors by themselves have failed in clinical trials to show MACE reduction. Long story short, I think it is still possible that apabetalone shows synergy with GLP1-R agonists....maybe BETonMACE just wasn't powered enough. 

BDAZ