FORGET LIPITOR, HERE COMES THE NEXT BIG THING
In 1971, a Japanese biochemist, Akira Endo, started work on what turned out to be the next big thing in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes, known as statins. In 1978, Merck (MRK) isolated lovastatin from fungusAspergillus terreus. Lovastatin is naturally contained in red yeast rice, a traditional Chinese fermented rice