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| When in 1995 year laboratory started working at it productivity of Aspergillus terreus strain was about 10 mg/L. Combined mutagenesis included chemical and ultraviolet irradiation treatment allowed to obtain fist line of mutants. Standard agar-based screening was used to identify most prospective mutants. First mutant with a 110-fold increase of productivity was obtained 12 months later as well as media optimization took 4 months for shaken flasks. At present our best mutant produces up to 16 G/L of product and technology is optimized both in shaken flasks and lab scale fermentors. |
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Lovastatin represents the first of a new class of cholesterol-lowering agents, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, which are indicated for the treatment of primary hypercholesterolaemia. It is a fungal metabolite that was originally isolated from cultures of Monascus ruber and Aspergillus terreus. Lovastatin was also the first HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor acknowledged to slow coronary arteriosclerosis. Lovastatin was purposely developed as a pro-drug to concentrate active drug in the liver during first-pass circulation. Lovastatin was approved by the FDA for the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia in August 1987.
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