Pravachol, Lipitor, Mevacor, Altocor, and Zocor are brands of what $multi-billion cholesterol controlling drug, ultimately named after Greek meaning 'causing to stand'?
HMG-CoA reductase used to lower serum cholesterol as a means of reducing the risk for cardiovascular disease. These drugs include rosuvastatin (CRESTOR), lovastatin (Mevacor), atorvastatin (Lipitor), pravastatin (Pravachol), fluvastatin (Lescol), pitavastatin (Livalo), and simvastatin (Zocor). Red yeast rice extract, one of the fungal sources from which the statins were discovered, contains several naturally occurring cholesterol-lowering molecules known as monacolins. The most active of these is monacolin K, or lovastatin (previously sold under the trade name Mevacor, and now available as generic lovastatin). Vytorin is drug that combines the use simvastatin and ezetimibe, which slows the formation of cholesterol by every cell in
Pharmaceutical industry trips to Japan starting in 1975. By 1978, Merck had isolated lovastatin (mevinolin, MK803) from the fungus "Aspergillus terreus", first marketed in 1987 as Mevacor. In April 1994, the results of a Merck-sponsored study, the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study, were announced. Researchers tested simvastatin, later sold by Merck as Zocor, on 4,444 patients with high cholesterol and heart disease. After five years, the study concluded the patients saw a 35% reduction in their cholesterol, and their chances of dying of a heart attack were reduced by 42%. In 1995, Zocor and Mevacor both made Merck over US$1 billion. Endo was