ABSTRACT
By 1988, clinical trials had provided overwhelming evidence of the chemotherapeutic value1,2 of the diterpene Taxol,3 the structure and numbering system of which are shown in Figure 1. Approximately a quarter century had elapsed since the date of the first plant collection and extraction. Although a variety of factors were responsible for this slow development (see Chapter 1), none was more important than the problem of supply of a drug that could be obtained only by extraction of the bark of a relatively small slow-growing tree found in virgin old-growth forests.4,5 When, in early 1989, the NCI sought a pharmaceutical company to continue the development of Taxol and bring it to the marketplace,6 the enormity of the supply issue and the associated politically and socially sensitive environmental concerns stood as the major impediment making most major companies reluctant to embark on such a venture.
