Uses

•  Methotrexate is used to treat a range of different cancers including breast, bladder, head, neck and lung cancer, lymphocytic leukaemia, choriocarcinoma and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It is still one of the most widely prescribed anti-cancer drugs, with almost 400 000 items being dispensed at a net cost of around £1.4million in the UK alone in 1998.

• Its use is not limited to that of treating cancer, it is also widely prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis. Although not originally what the drug was designed to treat this is a good example of the serendipitous findings that occur with the synthesis of drugs.

• A more recent and highly controversial use of methotrexate is as a so called 'chemical abortion'. The nature of the drug being to prevent cell replication which would target the foetus as well as the mother thereby preventing the development of the foetus and causing it to be aborted. Although less physically invasive than the procedures currently used for abortion the side effects of methotrexate clearly show that there are several problems with the idea of this, without even considering the ethical implications of such a potentially readily available abortion.