Pharmanex does not market lovastatin in guise of dietary supplement -- company to FDA.

PHARMANEX IS NOT MARKETING LOVASTATIN in the guise of a dietary supplement as Cholestin, the company asserts in an Oct. 29 filing with FDA. "Rather, Cholestin is a natural dietary supplement composed entirely of red yeast rice made by the traditional Chinese method," the company maintains. "Many of these traditional red yeast rice products naturally contain a range of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors -- including mevinolin (which the agency equates chemically with lovastatin) -- as well as unsaturated fatty acids" and other constituents which contribute to the product's "functionality," Pharmanex states.