Zaragozic acid A is the major metabolite of a class of unusual bicyclic tricarboxylic acids, produced by a number of fungi in the genera Curvularia, Exserohilum, Setosphaeria and others, discovered at Merck and Glaxo in the early 1990s. In nature, zaragozic acid A acts as a broad spectrum antifungal but its mode of action as an inhibitor of squalene synthase, involved in sterol biosynthesis, led to investigation as a cholesterol lowering agent. Zaragozic acid A prepared by BioAustralis is presented as the free acid rather than the tri-sodium salt to avoid stability problems associated with hydrolysis of the salt.