A benzimidazole compound or a salt thereof which has an inhibitory action of forming of macrophages and is useful as an active ingredient of an orally available medicament for preventive and/or therapeutic treatment of arteriosclerosis, which is represented by the formula (I):
wherein, R1 represents one or more functional groups on the benzene ring selected from the group consisting of hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a lower alkyl group and a lower alkoxy group; R2 represents hydrogen atom, an alkyl group or an acyl group; L represents a C4-C8 alkylene group or an ethyleneoxy linking group represented as (CH2CH2O)nCH2CH2 wherein n represents 1 or 2; X represents O or NH; Y represents S or a single bond; and Q represents a 5- or 6-membered heterocyclic group which may have a functional group on the ring.