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Docetaxel (trade name Taxotere) is a clinically well established anti-mitotic chemotherapy...

Docetaxel (trade name Taxotere) is a clinically well established anti-mitotic chemotherapy medication used mainly for the treatment of breast, ovarian, and non-small cell lung cancer. Docetaxel has an approved claim for treatment of patients who have locally advanced, or metastatic breast or non small-cell lung cancer who have undergone anthracycline-based chemotherapy and failed to stop cancer progression or relapsed. Administered as a one-hour infusion every three weeks generally over a ten cycle course, docetaxel is considered as or more effective than doxorubicin, paclitaxel and fluorouracil as a cytotoxic antimicrotubule agent. Docetaxel is marketed worldwide under the name Taxotere by Sanofi-Aventis. Annual sales approx $2bn. Patent expires in 2010. Docetaxel is of the chemotherapy drug class; taxane, and is a semi-synthetic analogue of paclitaxel (Taxol), an extract from the rare Pacific yew tree Taxus brevifolia. Due to scarcity of paclitaxel, extensive research was carried out leading to the formulation of docetaxel – an esterified product of 10-deacetyl baccatin III, which is extracted from the renewable and readily available European yew tree. Docetaxel differs from