Introduction to Paclitaxel | From Tree to Taxol | Paclitaxel and Cancer Treatment | Inside Paclitaxel: Physical Characteristics | Paclitaxel: Effective or Too Costly? | Paclitaxel’s Affect on History | History’s Affect on Paclitaxel | References
Paclitaxel’s development might be seen as a microcosm of external historical events and ideologies that have affected not only the biochemical world but history in general. For instance, paclitaxel’s development came during a period of increased fervor in finding a cure for cancer, an incredibly important field that continues today. Moreover, environmentalists, developing from the 1970s in particular, became more aware of different man-made impacts on the environment, notwithstanding paclitaxel’s synthesis. Thus, one sees the impact that external ideologies and events may have on the cancer treatment world, a top-down effect. Finally, serendipity, an undefinable but significant role in the production of many drugs throghout history, has also affected paclitaxel. Paclitaxel, a result of a wide-ranging look for cancer treatments through plants, came realtively out-of-nowhere, when the botanist Arthur S. Barclay discovered taxol in 1962. Through these devlopments outside of paclitaxel, one sees that history has affected paclitaxel most likely more than paclitaxel has affected history, a comment on the power of external ideas and events over internal ideas such as paclitaxel’s unique history.