Subject: HerbLetter 94/12/28 06:30 GMT

From: [email-masked] (Conrad Richter)
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 94 02:02:01 EST

-----------------------   Richters Herbletter   ------------------------
   Published by:     Richters, Canada's Herb Specialists
                     Goodwood, Ontario L0C 1A0, Canada
   Editor:           Conrad Richter <[email-masked]>
   
                     *** Trial issue: feedback welcome ***
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issue ID: 94/12/28 06:30 GMT             

Content
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. New Anti-Cancer Drug Derived from Vinca Effective Against Lung Cancer 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
   [Note: It was incorrectly reported in the electronic media December 
   26 that the source of the new drug is mistletoe. -CR]
   
   WASHINGTON, December 27, AP -- The Food and Drug Administration has 
approved a new drug to prolong the lives of advanced lung cancer 
patients. 
   The FDA approved Navelbine to treat non-small cell lung cancer, the 
most common type of the deadly disease, that is too advanced for surgery 
or radiation to help. 
   There is no cure for such advanced cancer, and Navelbine is the first 
new treatment approved specifically for these patients in 20 years, 
manufacturer Burroughs Wellcome Co. said. 
   Studies show Navelbine, a semi-synthetic derivative of the vinca 
flower family, prolongs survival by a median of two months. But in one 
study of 612 European patients, 30 percent who got Navelbine alone 
survived a year, as did 35 percent of patients who got Navelbine in 
combination with the cancer drug cisplatin, the company found. 
   Navelbine works by fusing together an integral part of the cancer 
cell's internal skeleton and thus preventing the cell division that 
causes tumor growth, said Burroughs oncologist Dr. John Hohneker. 
Keeping lung tumors stable is key to prolonging patient survival, he 
said. 
   Burroughs is studying whether Navelbine will also work on breast, 
prostate and ovarian cancers, along with its effect in combination with 
other new cancer drugs. 
   Lung cancer is the nation's most commonly diagnosed form of cancer 
and the leading cause of cancer deaths. This year, lung cancer will kill
more than 153,000 Americans, and 172,000 new cases will be diagnosed. 
Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for about 80 percent of these 
patients. 

   [Navelbine is the trade name for vinorelbine ditartrate, an alkaloid 
   derived from the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus; syn. 
   Vinca rosea) plant.  This attractive herb is also the source of 
   the drugs vincristine used for childhood leukemia and vinblastine
   used for Hodgkin's disease and choriocarcinoma.  The herb has also 
   been used for diabetes in Britain and Africa.  -CR]

------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Richters Herb Catalogue: 100 pages, colour, over 700 herb plants, 
   seeds, and dried herbs.  Available for $2 ($4 outside N America).  
   Order by email at [email-masked].  
------------------------------------------------------------------------

RICHTERS HERBS                     | Info:                 [email-masked]
Goodwood, ON  L0C 1A0, Canada      | Catalog Requests:  [email-masked]
Tel +1-905-640-6677  Fax 640-6641  | What's New for '95:    [email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Hilda Marshall)
Date: 28 Dec 1994 16:15:39 GMT

>   been used for diabetes in Britain and Africa.  -CR]

What is this plant's natural habitat?  Can it be cultivated?

Love, Hilda

---

From: [email-masked] (Conrad Richter)
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 94 12:37:58 EST

> What is this plant's natural habitat?  Can it be cultivated?

The herb doubles as a common garden annual flower; most catalogues have it, 
and of course, ours has it too because of its medicinal properties.  The 
plant is common throughout tropical Africa and India, though presumably it 
is either abundant in Madagascar or first described there.  Typical 
horticultural forms offer rose, purple and white flowers on dwarf plants 
below a foot in height.  Wild forms grow up to 3 feet in height.  

Conrad Richter

---

From: [email-masked] (Carolyn M Wetzel)
Date: 31 Dec 1994 17:40:43 GMT

Hilda-
 I have a pot of Madagascar Periwinkle growing happily on my windowsill.  It
roots easily from cuttings.
-Carolyn

-- 
Carolyn M. Wetzel			[email-masked]
Postdoctoral Research Associate		Tel. 515/294-7784
Department of Botany			Bessey Hall
Iowa State University			Ames, Iowa  50011-1020