ABSTRACT
As a most effective monomer composition from bark of Pacific Yew,paclitaxel and its derivatives are used in clinical practice as broad spectrum anticancer drugs.Since its discovery in the 1970 s,many researches had been carried out,mainly focusing on the modification,structure-activity relationship and pharmacological activity.The great successes pressed ahead the development of a series of taxol-like drugs,including taxol,docetaxel,cabazitaxel,larotaxel.Nowadays,studies of taxol are still the hotpots,which concentrated on the new source such as cultivation of tissue,fungus culture and new dosage forms.As the representative of drugs research from natural source,taxol is worth to be summarized of its history and ongoing development for looking forward to bring new innovation mentality in new drugs.