Surfomer (also known as alpha-olefin maleic acid) is a copolymer of maleic acid and alpha-olefin useful for control of whole-body cholesterol homeostasis. Surfomer reduces intestinal cholesterol absorption by decreasing membrane hydrophobicity at microvillus level thereby impairing the interaction with intestinal cholesterol of both exogenous and endogenous origin. In the hamsters, Surfomer was shown to effectively reduce intestinal cholesterol absorption in a dose-dependent manner, to increase hepatic and intestinal cholesterol synthesis and to decrease plasma total and LDL-cholesterol.