Epothilones – A fascinating family of microtubule stabilizing antitumor agents

Johann Mulzer, Karl-Heinz Altmann, Gerhard Höfle, Rolf Müller and Kathrin Prantz

Comptes Rendus Chimie, 2008, 11, 11-12, 1336-1368

In October 2007 the first epothilone derivative has received FDA approval for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. This event forms the background of this review which tries to highlight the historical development of the epothilones, namely their discovery, biosynthesis, fermentation, total synthesis, semisynthetic derivatives and clinical trials.