ABSTRACT
Only 25% of the cholesterol in the human body comes from the diet. The remaining 75% is synthesized by the body, mainly in the liver. Many people cannot control their cholesterol at a healthy level by diet alone but must depend on hypocholesterolemic drugs. High blood cholesterol leads to atherosclerosis, which is a causal factor in many types of coronary heart disease, a leading cause of human death. Statins reduce cardiovascular events including myocardial infarction, stroke, and death (Veillard and Mach 2002). The statins inhibit de novo synthesis of cholesterol in the liver, the major source of blood cholesterol. Statins are successful because they reduce total plasma cholesterol by 20%–40%, whereas the previously used brates only reduced it by 10%–15% (Knowles and Gromo 2003). A large segment of the U.S. pharmaceutical business is for cholesterol-lowering drugs, with worldwide sales reaching $32.4 billion in 2006 (Branca and Sannes 2006). Lipitor is the leading drug of the pharmaceutical industry, with worldwide sales in 2008 of $13.7 billion (Van Arnum 2009). Zocor generated worldwide annual sales of $7.2 billion in 2002 (Downton and Clark 2003) and Crestor sales were $5.7 billion in 2010 (Hirschler 2011).
