Side effects of statins : review
Nikash Ramsunder · The South African journal of diabetes & vascular disease · 2015
The 3-hydroxy 3-methylglutaryl CoA (HMG CoA) reductase inhibitors, also known as statins, were first discovered in 1971 by a Japanese biochemist from the fungus Penicillium citrinum. Lovastatin was the first statin introduced on the market in 1987. Statins are a widely used group of cholesterol-lowering agents that act by inhibiting the enzyme HM G CoA reductase, which catalyses the rate-limiting step in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. They are currently the largest-selling class of pharmaceutical compounds of all time, with six different statins currently available in most parts of the world. With sales in excess of $22 billion per annum, these drugs are taken by hundreds of millions of people around the world to prevent vascular disease. However these drugs are not without their side effects and it is the purpose of this review to examine some of these side effects. This article will divide these side effects into adverse and beneficial effects.