Anthracyclines: a leap forward in the fight against cancer
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| Federico Arcamone (third from the left) and collaborators (ca. 1980) |
The anthracyclins are potent anti-tumor agents identified in the 1960s by
Federico Arcamone and
Aurelio Di Marco, at Farmitalia’s research laboratories. This class of drugs is still widely used to treat leukemias, lymphomas and other types of cancer.
Stopping hormone-dependent breast cancer
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| Structure of the protein aromatase |
A cellular protein called aromatase is essential for the growth of hormone-dependent breast tumors. Paolo Lombardi and Enrico Di Salle, at Farmitalia Carlo Erba, discovered the selective aromatase inhibitor, exemestan, which is now widely used to treat postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor positive early breast cancer.
