Yew drug fights cancer.

Paclitaxel, the cancer-fighting drug derived from the Pacific yew tree, gives women suffering advanced ovarian cancer an additional year of life, compared to standard therapy, according to a new study.

A group of researchers from across the United States studied 386 women who had recently had surgery for advanced ovarian cancer. Half of the group received a combination of paclitaxel and cisplatin, another anticancer drug, while the other half received a standard therapy-cisplatin and an anticancer drug called cyclophosphamide. The researchers report in the Jan. 4 New England Journal of Medicine that the women receiving paclitaxel had a median survival of 38 months, compared to 24 months for the group receiving cyclophosphamide. Moreover, the paclitaxel delayed the reoccurrence of the cancer for an additional 6 months, on average, compared to cyclophosphamide.

Previous, smaller studies had indicated that paclitaxel therapy is beneficial. "Frankly, the survival advantage that we saw in this study was a surprise to everybody, including me," says study leader William P. McGuire of Emory University in Atlanta. The researchers are now looking at paclitaxel as therapy for less advanced ovarian cancers. That study is at least 2 years from completion, McGuire notes.