Paul Sandilands, Founder and Non Exec Director, Pulse Insurance would like to share his own perspective about the interesting development of drugs from Yew Tree in the treatment of Breast, Ovarian and other cancers.
‘One of the great pleasures in my life is gardening. About this time of year, we start cutting the yew shapes as illustrated.
Yew is such a remarkable plant – much quicker growing than generally thought and pretty disease resistant.
Not so long ago we used to send all the yew hedge clippings to a company that processed them into drugs that were used in chemotherapy. English Yew (taxus baccata) has some remarkable qualities. Scientists from Leicester University and the University of Manchester showed that a particular compound extracted from yew needles can be lethal to leukaemia cells and cancerous cells in humans, preventing them from growing and dividing.
Two chemotherapy drugs, docetaxel and paclitaxel were developed using yew tree extract. They are used particularly in the treatment of breast and ovarian cancer.
It was good to feel that our yew cuttings were put to good use, but a great volume of yew cuttings were required to produce a small amount of drugs and therefore, today, they are produced synthetically.
Coincidentally I read a fascinating obituary of Professor Craig Jordan (The Times Tuesday August 20th). This remarkable individual combined a life as an SAS officer and scientist, surely in itself a rare achievement. In the latter role he was considered the founding father of targeted therapy in cancer.
In his memoir, Tamoxifen Tales he described how he developed a passion for chemistry from an early age. His work as a scientist has been so important. In the 1970’s only some 40% of women diagnosed with cancer could expect to survive for 10 years or more. Today that percentage has doubled. Tamoxifen has been crucial in this achievement. And Jordan was the first to show that Tamoxifen could stop tumours growing by preventing oestrogen from locking onto receptor cells.
In the course of his life Jordan received a number of awards but the obituary tells how he valued his appointment as Honorary Colonel of Leeds UOTC. It goes on to tell the tale of how on a transatlantic flight a stewardess spotted his SAS lapel badge and approached him about a project named Honor our Heroes, which on Memorial Day in 2017 placed flags near the reflecting pool in Washington DC in honour of every American who fell during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Jordan contacted the British Embassy and sponsored the display of a Union Jack alongside them as allies for each of the British fallen.
It is thanks to Jordan and to other brilliant scientists that so much progress has been made in the treatment of breast and other cancers.’
This achievement is recognised by the Pulse underwriting team and enabled us to provide life assurance for many individuals affected by these conditions.
At Pulse we have been able to arrange important life assurance cover for our clients who have struggled to get terms in the mainstream insurance market due to their diagnosis of breast cancer.
We will assess each case on its own individual merits and in instances where the initial treatment plan has been completed, remission achieved with a robust follow up plan in place, we will do our best to quote terms. For higher stage cancers, if there has been a remission free period for at least 10 years, we have been particularly successful with sourcing life assurance cover.
For more information or to request a quotation, please contact [email protected] or call us on 01280 841430.
