Static around statins

Treatment of hypercholesterolemia largely involves diet, exercise, and judicious use of statins, which inhibit intracellular cholesterol synthesis. But the treatment regimens often do not bring patient cholesterol down to target levels. Researchers now have identified a new class of compounds that appear to act downstream of the statins and decrease circulating cholesterol in mice. However it is unclear if the new compounds will be synergistic with or will antagonize the beneficial effects of statins.

Scientists from GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK; LSE:GSK, London, U.K.) last week published in Nature Medicine the identification of a class of compounds they called SCAP ligands, which reduced plasma triglyceride and cholesterol levels by up to 80% in mice fed a high fat diet. They showed that the compounds bound in vitro to the sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) cleavage activating protein, known as SCAP, through SCAP's sterol binding element...