DRAWING A BEAD ON SIDE EFFECTS

摘要

In her 14-year fight against breast cancer, Janet Powell has become all too familiar with the foul side effects of chemotherapy. Treatments left her wracked with nausea, hot flashes, and uncontrollable tingling in her hands and feet. Powell's only relief came in 2002, when she enrolled in a clinical trial of Abraxane, a drug derived from a popular chemo treatment but reengineered to cause fewer side effects. "All of a sudden I started feeling really good," says Powell, a 57-year-old secretary in Greenville, Tex. "I almost forgot I had cancer." Abraxane, approved by the Food & Drug Administration in January, is part of a growing class of drugs designed to improve on flawed, older ones. American Pharmaceutical Partners Inc. (APP) created it by reformulating Tax-ol, a 13-year-old chemo drug, to remove the ingredient that makes patients feel sick.