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Akira Endo
Biochemist
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Akira Endo was a Japanese biochemist who, while researching antibacterial compounds at the pharmaceutical company Sankyo, systematically screened thousands of fungal cultures for substances that block cholesterol synthesis in the body. In 1973 he isolated compactin (mevastatin) from the mold Penicillium citrinum, the first statin, a class of drugs that lowers blood cholesterol and is credited with helping prevent large numbers of heart attacks worldwide; statins are sometimes described, alongside penicillin, as among the most consequential drug discoveries in medicine.
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