Hi Rich -
Wish there was an easy answer.
I had Taxotere as part of adjuvent treatment. That plus Adriamycin did NOT work for me. I had raging liver mets within 6 months of ending that combo.
On the other hand, TAXOL
WAS a good drug for me, in combination with Navelbine and Herceptin. I had a weekly treatment schedule and this worked for me.
There is a difference in the taxanes. One was made from the Yew tree bark and the other from the needles. But they may be formulated in the lab now.
From Wikipedia: (This also better explains how the drugs work toward the cancer cell, and mentions Vinca alkoloids (Navelbine) so you see how these drugs are synergistic.)
"The
taxanes are
diterpenes produced by the plants of the genus
Taxus (yews). As their name suggests, they were first derived from natural sources, but some have been synthesized artificially. Taxanes include
paclitaxel and
docetaxel. Paclitaxel was originally derived from the
Pacific yew tree.
Taxanes have been used to produce various
chemotherapy drugs. The principal mechanism of the taxane class of drugs is the disruption of
microtubule function. It does this by stabilizing
GDP-bound
tubulin in the microtubule. Microtubules are essential to cell division, and taxanes therefore stop this - a "frozen
mitosis". Thus, taxanes are essentially
mitotic inhibitors. In contrast to the taxanes, the
vinca alkaloids destroy
mitotic spindles. Both, taxanes and vinca alkaloids are therefore named
spindle poisons or mitosis poisons, but they act in different ways. Taxanes are also thought to be
radiosensitizing."