In the German language the word Schmuck means jewelry, adornment. The etymology of the pejorative meaning is a matter of some disagreement. The lexicographer Michael Wex, author of How to Be a Mentsh (And Not a Shmuck), writes that the Yiddish term and the German term are completely unrelated.
A fundamental philosophy of medical oncology, including combination chemotherapy, is that different drugs work through different mechanisms, and that the results of using multiple drugs will be synergistic to some extent.
Chemotherapy is a widely used treatment for cancer. The term chemotherapy refers to the drugs that prevent cancer cells from dividing and growing. It does this by killing the dividing cells. A wide range of drugs is used to achieve these goals. The effectiveness depends to some extent on the stage of the cancer being treated.