statin

The story

From the suffix -statin, which was used for inhibiting hormone names before it was used for HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor drug names (but, like statin, has since become much better known in the latter sense).

First known use, by meaning

• 1980s Any of a class of drugs, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, that lower the amount of cholesterol in the blood by inhibiting an enzyme involved in its biosynthesis.
• 1970s An inhibiting hormone: a hormone that is involved primarily in inhibiting the release of another hormone.