By blocking the oxidation process, the two doctors reasoned, they might be able to curtail the inflammatory response.

FORBES: Inflamed Hearts

Within months of publishing their results in 1993, Medford and Alexander started AtheroGenics out of their offices at Emory to find a safe drug that would stop the oxidation process.

FORBES: Inflamed Hearts

It also lowered the so-called good cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and it did not enter the cell, a characteristic Medford wanted hisdrug to have, because some of the oxidation process takes place within cellular membranes.

FORBES: Inflamed Hearts

It only sticks to arteries after it becomes electrically charged in the normal chemical process of oxidation.

FORBES: Inflamed Hearts

Free radicals alter cholesterol in a process known as oxidation, which is thought to speed up the hardening of the arteries.

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