Cancer chemotherapy in historical perspective.

Effective systemic cancer therapy has evolved during the past 50 years. Prior to that time a variety of treatments were attempted, many of which seemed to have had their origins in sorcery rather than science. The 1950s and 1960s produced an explosion of knowledge and many of the chemotherapeutic agents in use today were synthesized during that time frame. Currently we are exploring a variety of new therapeutic approaches to cancer, and the future promises to be increasingly productive.