The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) paclitaxel and the related compound docetaxel are approved as treatments for a range of cancers – including tumours of the breast and pancreas - by regulators in Europe, the US and beyond.
Now new research due to be presented at American Society of Oncology’s (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium suggests a form of paclitaxel combined with albumin – called Nab- paclitaxel – “could be highly effective against bile duct cancers.”
Lead researcher Gerald Prager from the University Department of Internal Medicine I at the MedUni Vienna, said: “The primary objective with an aggressive disease such as bile duct cancer is to control the disease while maintaining or improving the patient's quality of life.
“We want to stabilise the disease and ideally make the condition a chronic one. Initial data confirms that nab-paclitaxel is likely to have a high degree of biological effectiveness with few side effects."
He added that: “Our efforts have enabled us to kick off a major study aimed at introducing the substance into routine clinical practice. We will of course be actively involved in this international, multi-centre, prospective, randomised study."
It has to be yew (mostly)
“Taxols” are produced from a compound called 10-deacetylbaccatin (10-DAB) that is found in the bark and needles of live Pacific yew trees (Taxus brevifolia), which are the primary source for the drug industry.
This used to be a problem because yew trees – like all conifers – have been negatively impacted by rising global temperatures and, according to a 2013 report, several economically important species are endangered.
The situation has changed according to Frost & Sullivan told in-Pharmatechnologist.com new production methods are reducing reliance on natural sources.
"The market for paclitaxel was around $5.06bn in 2014. There is a paradigm shift towards lowering drug cost due to pricing pressures. However, due to increasing adoption of the drug, and development of sustainable methods of productions, the market is expected to witness steady growth in the future.
One supplier likely to benefit from any surge in demand is Canadian Phyton Biotech, which holds a Certificate of suitability to the European Pharmacopoeia (CEP) for a version of paclitaxel produced by fermenting plant cells.
Phyton claims to produce 500kg of paclitaxel each year at its facility in Vancouver.