Cholesterol Drug Made of Algae Extract Advancing in Study

DETROIT – Wayne State University says promising early results have led it to expand tests on a possible new drug treatment for high cholesterol.

The university is working with Health Enhancement Products Inc. to test the material.

Assistant professor Smiti Gupta says early tests failed to find any detectable liver inflammation among test subjects. Liver damage has been an issue with current cholesterol drugs.

As a result, the school said Tuesday it's undertaking further tests of the effectiveness and safety of the treatment.

The material being tested is ProAlgaZyme, an algae extract.