Paclitaxel is the world's best-selling plant-based anticancer drug and one of the most effective anticancer drugs over the past 30 years. It is widely used in the treatment of various types of cancer, including breast cancer, ...
Biochemistry
Mar 4, 2024
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6
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology have unraveled the biosynthetic pathway of paclitaxel in yew plants, a chemotherapeutic for cancer treatment. This discovery might facilitate the production ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 13, 2023
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1
Virginia Tech scientists have developed a new cancer drug that uses gold nanoparticles created by the biotech firm CytImmune Sciences to deliver paclitaxel—a commonly used chemotherapy drug directly to a tumor.
Bio & Medicine
Nov 14, 2016
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94
(Phys.org)—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown how to synthesize in the laboratory an important set of natural compounds known as terpenes. The largest class of chemicals made by living organisms, terpenes ...
Biochemistry
Sep 24, 2012
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1
A critical step in advancing medical treatment is the development of novel drug delivery methods. While a simple tablet, taken by the patient with a sip of water, may be the easiest way to administer a drug, this may not ...
Polymers
Dec 23, 2011
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0
Scientists are reporting successful application of the technology used in home devices to clean jewelry, dentures, and other items to make anticancer drugs like tamoxifen and paclitaxel dissolve more easily in body fluids, ...
Biochemistry
Jan 26, 2011
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0
A popular cancer drug could be produced cheaply and sustainably using stem cells derived from trees, a study suggests.
Biotechnology
Oct 25, 2010
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0
(PhysOrg.com) -- MIT researchers and collaborators from Tufts University have now engineered E. coli bacteria to produce large quantities of a critical compound that is a precursor to the cancer drug Taxol, originally isolated ...
Biochemistry
Sep 30, 2010
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Scientists and engineers have used uniform magnetic fields to drive iron-bearing nanoparticles to metal stents in injured blood vessels, where the particles deliver a drug payload that successfully prevents blockages in those ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 19, 2010
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Research by Michigan State University chemist Kevin Walker is paving the way for potentially cleaner, more efficient production of cancer-fighting paclitaxel -- better known as the blockbuster drug Taxol.
Biochemistry
Apr 2, 2009
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0
Paclitaxel is a mitotic inhibitor used in cancer chemotherapy. It was discovered in a U.S. National Cancer Institute program at the Research Triangle Institute in 1967 when Monroe E. Wall and Mansukh C. Wani isolated it from the bark of the Pacific yew tree, Taxus brevifolia and named it taxol. When it was developed commercially by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) the generic name was changed to paclitaxel and the BMS compound is sold under the trademark TAXOL. In this formulation, paclitaxel is dissolved in Cremophor EL and ethanol, as a delivery agent. A newer formulation, in which paclitaxel is bound to albumin, is sold under the trademark Abraxane.
Paclitaxel is now used to treat patients with lung, ovarian, breast cancer, head and neck cancer, and advanced forms of Kaposi's sarcoma. Paclitaxel is also used for the prevention of restenosis.
Paclitaxel stabilizes microtubules and as a result, interferes with the normal breakdown of microtubules during cell division. Together with docetaxel, it forms the drug category of the taxanes. It was the subject of a notable total synthesis by Robert A. Holton.
While offering substantial improvement in patient care, paclitaxel has been a relatively controversial drug. There was originally concern because of the environmental impact of its original sourcing, no longer used, from the Pacific yew. In addition, the assignment of rights, and even the name itself, to Bristol-Myers Squibb were the subject of public debate and Congressional hearings.
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