atorvastatin

English

Etymology

From ator- +‎ -vastatin (“HMG CoA reductase inhibitor”). The prefix probably from Spanish atorar (“to clog”), wherein the verb suffix -ar was taken off. Thus, the role is "to inhibit the clogging (of cholesterol)".

Noun

atorvastatin (usually uncountable, plural atorvastatins)

1. (pharmacology) A statin used to lower the level of cholesterol in the blood. Trade names include Lipitor among others.
   • 2011 June, Ma Rosa Boleda, Ma Teresa Galceran, Francesc Ventura, “Behavior of pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse in a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) using combined conventional and ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis (UF/RO) treatments”, in Environmental Pollution, volume 159, number 6, →DOI, pages 1584-1591:

     Among statins, only simvastatin (up to 7.5 ng/L) and pravastatin (up to 40.4 ng/L) were identified in the raw water being these concentrations substantially higher than those found in the literature, 1 ng/L for pravastatin (Miao and Metcalfe, 2003) and 1.4 ng/L for atorvastatin and 1.0 ng/L for its metabolites o- and p-hydroxy atorvastatin in surface waters (Benotti et al., 2009). […] The last compound, gemfibrozil is the sole antilipidemic compound found (up to 3 ng/L) in a USA survey of 18 DWTPs whereas atorvastatin, simvastatin and their metabolites, the other studied compounds, were absent (Benotti et al., 2009). In our study, the two statins identified at the intake of the DWTP were eliminated by dioxychlorination (>99%) whereas bezafibrate, clofibric acid and gemfibrozil were only moderately removed with percentages of 37%, 68% and 11%, respectively although it has been reported that gemfibrozil and clofibric acid are readily oxidized with chlorine dioxide in spiked drinking water whereas bezafibrate remains unchanged (Huber et al., 2005a).