THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130286
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Health Briefs
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 24 lines
Taxol, a potent drug used to fight advanced breast and ovarian cancer, now will be made semi-synthetically, ending its maker's reliance on the endangered Pacific yew tree.
Bristol-Myers Squibb announced Monday that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the new version of Taxol as equivalent to nature's own variety.
The company will now make Taxol from the needles and twigs of the more common Himalayan variety of yew instead of the bark of its Pacific cousin. Not only does that mean that no trees will be killed, but it ends fears that dwindling Pacific yew supplies would make the drug scarce. by CNB