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Paclitaxel (Taxol) is a mitotic inhibitor used in cancer chemotherapy. It was discovered in a 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 'TaxolR'. In this formulation paclitaxel is dissolved in Cremophor EL, a polyoxyethylated castrol oil, as a delivery agent since paclitaxel is not soluble in water. In January 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved AbraxaneRprotein-bound paclitaxel), developed and manufactured by Abraxis BioScience, for the treatment of breast cancer after failure of combination chemotherapy for metastatic disease or relapse within six months of adjuvant chemotherapy. In this formulation, paclitaxel is bonded to albumin as the delivery agent as an alternative to the often toxic solvent delivery method of 'TaxolR'. 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 works by interfering with normal microtubule growth 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. Information from Wikipedia. |
