It can be somewhat discouraging to investors when a home remedy of lemon juice, honey, or spinach takes on drugs created by the likes of Merck (NYSE:MRK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), and the home remedy actually holds its own in the fight. Fortunately AtheroNova Inc. (OTC:AHRO) is in a position to redeem the pharmaceutical industry. The battleground is the war against cholesterol, or more specifically, the negative health effects of too much so-called bad cholesterol (LDL). Merck unveiled Zocor to treat the condition, and Bristol-Myers Squibb launched Pravachol; there are about thirteen major anti-cholesterol dugs out there right now. As time passes though, the pros of these treatments – mostly statins – are starting to diminish, while the ‘cons’ are starting to swell. It’s a trend that the likes of Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb should be worried about, since $40 billion worth of annual anti-cholesterol drug sales are at stake. It’s a trend AtheroNova Inc. is reveling in though, as it’s not missing the boat its bigger pharma brothers missed.As it turns out, lowering your cholesterol doesn’t necessarily decrease your odds of heart attack or cardiovascular health risks… once the root cause of those risks sets in. that root cause is plaque-covered arteries. Pravachol, Zocor, and all of their statin peers have been shown to remove cholesterol from the blood, but they generally don’t undo atherosclerosis – the covering of artery walls with hard, fatty deposits – unless dosed in dangerously-high quantities. AtheroNova’s lead drug candidate is an actual treatment for the dangerous condition.The AHRO biotechnology is founded on bile salts rather than on a statin molecule designed to inhibit HMG-CoA reductase. Statins crimp the amount of enzyme that ultimately leads to the creation of mevalonate – the molecule created right before ‘cholesterol’ is formed in the liver. The problem is, by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, the drug’s mechanism has also been observed to cause other problems, including the inhibited production of so-called ‘good cholesterol (HDL). Bile salts occur naturally in the body, in that they’re reduced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder, for the purpose of digesting some fats and to prevent certain toxins from being stored in the body’s fat. in many ways, bile salts are a body’s garbage men.It’s not exactly a new idea for the health-savvy. Bile salts have been used as OTC health supplements to treat psoriasis, septicemia, and constipation just to name a few. and, people at heart disease risk who are also health supplement consumers are no stranger to putting heart-related ailments on the list of targets. everything from fish oil also vera gel to garlic to lemon juice have been used with the intent of eating away at arterial plaque. AtheroNova Inc. is taking a similar ‘organic’ approach, but building its drug directly based on the mechanism that the body itself uses to fight artery plaque as best it can. That’s where Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and others fall short. It’s still a long road to pave for AHRO owners, but that’s biotech. any milestones met in the meantime as the drug makes its way through the development gauntlet are likely to be rewarded.