Next up, let’s take a look at atorvastatin, or Lipitor.
In this short video, cardiologist Dr. Lyndon Box shares the life-saving impact that statins like Lipitor can have.
Statins, also known as MMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, are a class of lipid-lowering medications that reduce illness and mortality in people at high risk of heart disease. Lipitor and other statins significantly lower cholesterol and lower the risk of heart attack by a whopping 30-40%. They slow the progression of atherosclerosis by reducing inflammation and promoting the stability of arterial plaques. They can also improve the function of the endothelium (the inner lining of blood vessels) leading to better blood flow and less stress on the heart.
The first statin was discovered back in 1971. Akira Endo, a Japanese biochemist working for the pharmaceutical company Sankyo, and his team identified mevastatin, a molecule produced by the fungus Penicillium citrinum, which he demonstrated was able to lower cholesterol in vitro. Although mevastatin wasn’t ultimately found to be safe for use in humans, the work of Endo and his team opened the floodgates for more research that ultimately led to the development and discovery of many safe and effective statin drugs. In 2012, Endo was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Michael S. Brown and Joseph Goldstein, who won the Nobel Prize for related work on cholesterol, said of Endo: “The millions of people whose lives will be extended through statin therapy owe it all to Akira Endo.”
Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. It’s difficult to determine the exact number of lives that have been directly saved and prolonged by statins, but it is in the hundreds of millions!