Taxol had been invented at taxpayer expense, and Hauser controlled the leading extraction technology.
Taxol sales grew 40% a year since 1993, but they fell 14% in the first quarter.
Every major medical treatment from Taxol to Lipitor has its roots in NIH-funded basic science.
Doctors had told her Avastin together with chemotherapy drug Taxol could prolong her life.
Ivax's generic version of Taxol has been on the market for over a year.
It's a variation on the well-established breast cancer drug Taxol, which works by inhibiting cell division.
FORBES: Patrick Soon-Shiong and one of cancer's biggest riddles.
Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY - news - people ) under the Taxol name.
FORBES: Patrick Soon-Shiong and one of cancer's biggest riddles.
Generic competition on cancer treatment Taxol and anti-anxiety drug BuSpar is already dragging on sales.
Taxol is used during chemotherapy in combination with other drugs in order to destroy cancer cells.
Skeptics, however, question the benefit of tweaking Taxol to squeeze out more potency.
Though their trial tested Taxol on just 22 patients, they believe it could advance testicular cancer treatment.
In the past, many of its biggest drugs, including cancer treatment Taxol, have been licensed from other companies.
Taxol, one of the most lucrative chemotherapy drugs ever, lost patent protection in the United States in 2002.
Taxol, once hailed as a cancer wonder drug, will soon face generic competition.
SusanDesmond-HellmannSusan Desmond-Hellmann, Levinson's second-in-command, helped develop the chemotherapy drug Taxol at Bristol-Myers Squibb before coming to Genentech in 1995.
But Soon-Shiong says his drug is more effective than Taxol, precisely because of a quirk in the albumin coat.
FORBES: Patrick Soon-Shiong and one of cancer's biggest riddles.
Taxol comes dissolved in a solvent so potent it melts standard iv tubing.
FORBES: Patrick Soon-Shiong and one of cancer's biggest riddles.
But Crooke plowed ahead, embarking on a 53-patient trial combining his lung cancer drug with traditional chemotherapies Carboplatinum and Taxol.
In the meantime, the sales force Bristol developed to market Taxol, a wonder drug in its time, may be idle.
The company's most promising drug that could replace Taxol is Erbitux, another cancer drug, which it had licensed from ImClone Systems.
Bristol-Myers said there was nothing new in the lawsuit and that it mirrored other litigation over Taxol, which it is already defending.
Taxol is one of the most successful cancer drugs ever produced.
Pacific yew is the source of Taxol, and the rosy periwinkle is the source of vincristine and vinblastine all drugs used to fight cancer.
WSJ: Big Pharma's Real Roots | Wild Medicine | New York Botanical Garden | By Joanne Kaufman
And when Taxol fails to kill off all cancerous cells, a tumor can grow back with resistant mutations, unimpeded on its morbid path.
In initial studies, the combo delayed breast cancer's spread for 17 months versus 7 months with the standard regimen of Herceptin and Taxol.
Aspirin, for example, was originally derived from willow bark, and the anticancer drug Taxol comes from the bark of the Pacific yew tree.
Bristol-Myers Squibb has been hurt by competition from generic substitutes for proprietary drugs like Glucophage (diabetes medication), Taxol (cancer treatment) and BuSpar (antidepressant).
The company, which makes Taxol and other cancer-fighting drugs, is also sponsoring an annual cross-country bike relay for cancer survivors, researchers and health professionals.
Research showed that Taxol can be made by fermenting the fungus in vats, but so far harvesting it from trees remains more cost effective.
One-third of drugs on the market originate in nature, such as cancer drug Taxol, derived from the bark and needles of the yew tree.
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