It was isolated from the mold Penicillium citrinum by Akira Endo in the 1970s, and he identified it as a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor,[1] i.e., a statin. Mevastatin might be considered the first statin drug;[2] clinical trials on mevastatin were performed in the late 1970s in Japan, but it was never marketed.[3] The first statin drug available to the general public was lovastatin.
A British group isolated the same compound from Penicillium brevicompactum, named it compactin, and published their results in 1976.[5] The British group mentions antifungal properties with no mention of HMG-CoA reductase inhibition.
High doses inhibit growth and proliferation of melanoma cells.[6]
^Brown AG, Smale TC, King TJ, Hasenkamp R, Thompson RH (1976). "Crystal and molecular structure of compactin, a new antifungal metabolite from Penicillium brevicompactum". Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 1 (11): 1165–70. doi:10.1039/P19760001165. PMID945291.