A class of medications that lower cholesterol levels in the blood by blocking an enzyme the liver uses to make cholesterol. They are primarily prescribed to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Named after the fungal metabolite 'statin' discovered in the 1970s from Penicillium citrinum. The suffix '-statin' comes from the Greek 'statikos' meaning causing to stand still, referring to how these drugs halt cholesterol production.
Statins are among the most prescribed medications worldwide, yet they were discovered almost by accident when Japanese scientist Akira Endo was studying how fungi compete with each other! The first statin, lovastatin, literally came from red yeast rice that had been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries.
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