Pitavastatin: the newest HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor.

Statins were first introduced in the 1980s as a treatment of hypercholesterolemia. They provide a remarkable array of clinical benefits, including the reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglycerides, and elevation of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The US Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a new statin-pitavastatin-for launch in 2010. In several clinical trials, pitavastatin has shown favorable clinical efficacy, a positive safety profile, and encouraging clinical experience in Japan and other parts of Asia.