Paclitaxel

Paclitaxel is a chemotherapeutic drug originally developed from the bark of the Pacific Yew tree. Given the relative scarcity of Pacific Yew trees and environmental concerns over their loss, scientists sought to synthesize the product but settled instead on semisynthesizing it from the needle of the English Yew, a procedure now used in the creation of Bristal-Myers Squibb's Taxol. Paclitaxel was approved by the FDA in 1992 for use in the treatment of ovarian cancer and in 1994 for use in the treatment of breast cancer. It is not a cure for cancer but it may stop the abnormal cancer cells from dividing and growing so they eventually die.