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Paclitaxel (Taxol®) is a drug used in the treatment of cancer. It was discovered at Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in 1967 when Monroe E. Wall and Mansukh C. Wani isolated the compound from the bark of the Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia, and noted its antitumor activity in a broad range of rodent tumors. By 1970, the two scientists had determined the structure of paclitaxel, which is extremely complex. Paclitaxel has since become an effective tool of doctors who treat patients with lung, ovarian, breast cancer, and advanced forms of Kaposi's sarcoma (Saville et al 1995). It is sold under the tradename Taxol®. Together with docetaxel, it forms the drug category of the taxanes. Paclitaxel is also used for the prevention of restenosis (recurrent narrowing) of coronary stents; locally delivered to the wall of the coronary artery, a paclitaxel coating limits the growth of neointima (scar tissue) within stents (Heldman et al 2001).
History
The history of paclitaxel begins with a 1958 National Cancer Institute study that commissioned Department of Agriculture botanists to collect samples of over 30,000 plants to test for anticancer properties. Arthur S. Barclay, one of those botanists, collected 15 lbs of twigs, needles, and bark from Pacific yew trees in a forest near Mount St. Helens. Months later, in 1963, Monroe E. Wall discovered that bark extract from the Pacific yew possessed antitumor qualities, beginning to reveal the tree's hidden treasure. Soon after, Wall and his colleague Mansukh C. Wani were busy isolating and purifying plant compounds for anticancer tests in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. In 1967 the team had isolated the active ingredient, announcing their findings at an American Chemical Society meeting in Miami Beach. Wall and Wani published their results, including the chemical structure, in a 1971 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The paper was noticed immediately by Robert A. Holton who was starting postdoctoral research at Stanford University in natural products synthesis. But, it would be several years before he dedicated his attention to synthesizing pacilitaxel at Florida State University, quelling an emerging environmental controversy; a 40-foot Pacific yew tree, which may have taken 200 years to reach that height, yields only a half gram of paclitaxel, but Holton's group perfected a four-step procedure to convert 10-deacetylbaccatin (a related compound in Pacific yew needles) into paclitaxel. In the late 1970s, Susan B. Horwitz, a molecular pharmacologist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, unraveled the key mystery of how paclitaxel works. Largely in part of an enormous research and development effort, starting in government facilities and later in commercial labs, paclitaxel quickly became an all-time best-selling pharmaceutical. Paclitaxel was brought to the market by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1993 as Taxol®. Annual sales peaked in 2000, reaching *]1.6 billion.
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COMPARE investigators in the Lancet: "paclitaxel-eluting stents should no longer be used in everyday clinical practi⦠http://wp.me/ppMHd-16O
cardiobrief (Larry Husten) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:31:12 -0000
COMPARE investigators in the Lancet: "paclitaxel-eluting stents should no longer be used in everyday clinical practi… http://wp.me/ppMHd-16O
HCOG Ph. 2 study finds carbo+PEG may B as effect. w/less toxicity than carbo+paclitaxel in platin.-sensitive OvCa pts. http://short.to/12omc
libbyshope (Paul Cacciatore) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:02:33 -0000
HCOG Ph. 2 study finds carbo+PEG may B as effect. w/less toxicity than carbo+paclitaxel in platin.-sensitive OvCa pts. http://short.to/12omc
NeoPharm issued + results from a phase 2 trial of Liposome-Entrapped Paclitaxel for #breast #cancer. http://ow.ly/Tpf3
CenterWatch (CenterWatch) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:35:54 -0000
NeoPharm issued + results from a phase 2 trial of Liposome-Entrapped Paclitaxel for #breast #cancer. http://ow.ly/Tpf3
Breast Cancer News: Phase II clinical trial results of Liposome-Entrapped Paclitaxel announced: NeoPharm, Inc. tod... http://bit.ly/8AhXjl
BreastCancers (News-Medical.Net) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:46:03 -0000
Breast Cancer News: Phase II clinical trial results of Liposome-Entrapped Paclitaxel announced: NeoPharm, Inc. tod... http://bit.ly/8AhXjl
Paclitaxel side effects in real world, based on 25,472 reports - eHealthMe http://tinyurl.com/yj39ahv
eHealthMe (eHealthMe.com) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:38:53 -0000
Paclitaxel side effects in real world, based on 25,472 reports - eHealthMe http://tinyurl.com/yj39ahv
Phase II clinical trial results of Liposome-Entrapped Paclitaxel announced: NeoPharm, Inc. today announced the res... http://bit.ly/8AhXjl
NewsMedical (News-Medical.Net) Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:17:42 -0000
Phase II clinical trial results of Liposome-Entrapped Paclitaxel announced: NeoPharm, Inc. today announced the res... http://bit.ly/8AhXjl
A Tale of Taxol - An article from the Florida State University Office of Research detailing the history of the drug's development. Includes photos.
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Consumer Project on Technology - Information, timeline, and links to articles about disputes involving Taxol.
Medline Plus: Paclitaxel - Brief summary for patients from the National Library of Medicine.
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Paclitaxel for Injection - From Biolyse Pharma. Describes their generic version, derived from the needles of the ground hemlock bush.
Meta Description: [ Information on Paclitaxel for Injection products manufactured by Biolyse Pharma Corporation. ]
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