Pravastatin, sold under the brand name Pravachol among others, is a statin medication, used for preventing cardiovascular disease in those at high risk and treating abnormal lipids.

[5] Like all statins, pravastatin works by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, an enzyme found in liver that plays a role in producing cholesterol.

[11] Pravastatin has undergone over 112,000 patient-years of double-blind, randomized trials using the 40 mg, once-daily dose and placebos.

As a reversible competitive inhibitor, pravastatin sterically hinders the action of HMG-CoA reductase by occupying the active site of the enzyme.

Taking place primarily in the liver, this enzyme is responsible for the conversion of HMG-CoA to mevalonate in the rate-limiting step of the biosynthetic pathway for cholesterol.

[1] Initially known as CS-514, pravastatin is a derivative of ML236B (compactin), which was identified in a fungus called Penicillium citrinum in the 1970s by researchers of the Sankyo Pharma Inc.[17] It is being marketed outside Japan by the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb.

[18] Generic pravastatin sodium tablets were manufactured by Biocon Ltd, India and Teva Pharmaceuticals in Kfar Sava, Israel.