Cerivastatin

Better Known as: Baycol

• Marketed By: Bayer Healthcare
  
• Major Indication: Hyperlipidemia & High Cholesterol (Hypercholesterolemia)
  
• Drug Class: HMGR Inhibitor or Statin
• Date of FDA Approval (Withdrawn): 1997 (2001)
  
• 2000 Sales: $587 Million
• Importance: An extremely well selling statin, but withdrawn in 2001 due to a high incidence of rhabdomyolysis. Statins are so ubiquitous, doctors have even suggested handing them out with fast food. See: the article
  
• See Pharmaceutical Drugs for more information about other drugs and disorders

Mechanism of Action

Cerivastatin is an inhibitor of HMG-CoA Reductase (HMGR), a highly regulated enzyme responsible for the committed step in cholesterol synthesis.^[1] Cerivastatin, like most of the statins, binds HMGR via a number of polar interactions with the "cis loop" of HMGR, particularly residues Ser 684, Asp 690, Lys 691, Lys 692, and hydrogen bond interactions between Glu 559 and Asp 767 with the O5-hydroxyl of the statins. Van der Waals interactions between Leu 562, Val 683, Leu 853, Ala 856, and Leu 857 of HMGR and hydrophobic ring structures of Fluvastatin contribute to binding as well.^[2] These interactions help Cerivastatin outcompete HMG-CoA, the substrate of HMGR, in binding to HMGR.^[3]