With epothilone, her cancer disappeared entirely after three months and remained in remission for another two months.

FORBES: Taxol's Next Stand

Epothilone has the potential to be even more effective against taxane resistance because it has a different chemical structure that may let it bind better with microtubules.

FORBES: Taxol's Next Stand

Animal tests conducted by Danishefsky at Memorial-Sloan Kettering, who discovered epothilone-D, show the compound can tame tumors that are impervious to Taxol and other chemotherapy drugs.

FORBES: Innovators

Kosan is in early human trials of epothilone-D, a potent variant of a promising new class of chemotherapy drugs derived from an African soil bacteria, Sorangium cellulosum.

FORBES: Innovators