Volume :

5

Issue :

1

Abstract :

Hypercholesterolemia is a primary risk factor in coronary heart disease which is the major cause of deaths in the Western World. Clinical studies with lipid lowering agents have established that lowering elevated serum cholesterol levels reduces the incidence of cardiovascular mortality. In humans, more than one-half of total body cholesterol is derived from de novo synthesis. The rate-limiting step in cholesterol biosynthesis is the reduction of HMG CoA to mevalonic acid. There is the attractive possibility that compactin or some related compound might be useful as a hypocholesterlemic agent.