Docetaxel, tradenamed Taxotere, is based on an extract from the needles of the English yew plant, and currently is used to treat metastatic breast cancer. It  kills cancer cells by disrupting formation of the internal skeleton that allows cells to divide and multiply.

Other therapies that may boost docetaxel effectiveness include radiopharmaceuticals targeted at cancer cells that have spread to the bone or drugs that block prostate cancer growth genes.  Based on the results of this study, docetaxel was approved on May 19, 2004, as first-line therapy for hormone refractory prostate cancer by the Food and Drug Administration.

Prostate cancer affects more than 230,000 men in the United States annually, and as the second leading cause of cancer deaths, almost 30,000 will die from the disease each year.  Eighty percent of prostate cancer patients with advanced disease respond to initial hormone therapy to decrease testosterone levels, but most relapse within an average of two years.

This study was funded by Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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