Patti and crew , Try to get this months Cure Mag (It is usually in the waiting rooms and you can get it sent to you free if you are envolved with a cancer) if you have not already., It has an article on natural cures and one of the directions it goes in is that many of our drugs are derived originally from substances they find in nature following up on natural cures and old tales etc. Samples are taken to the lab to find the chemical that was helpful with a disease. Some then go on to be made synthetically some the continue to extract from the natural product. One mentioned is Bryostatin (derieved from a type of sea moss) a drug that I tried in a trial when I was first diagnosed. Taxol came from a Pacific yew tree bark and needles, Mylotarg from a rock a scientist picked up thinking it might have a fungi or bacterial -and it did. Ara C used in induction chemo for AML was developed from research starting with a sea sponge. Interesting stuff!
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