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ANIMALS, ANIMALS/EARTH SCENES
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This lovely, delicate flower has helped to beautify many gardens—and to revolutionize the treatment of cancer. The rosy periwinkle from Madagascar is the source of several potent cancer chemotherapy drugs, including vincristine and vinblastine. In 1960, a child with leukemia faced only a 1-in-10 chance of remission. But with the help of drugs derived from the rosy periwinkle, such a child now has a 19-in-20 chance of remission. Chemotherapy, as punishing and unpleasant as it is, has had a profound impact on the outlook for cancer patients. Many of them, only a few decades ago, had little hope of survival.
Related Links
National Cancer Institute