A woman from Mississippi alleges she should have been better informed about the risk of permanent hair loss associated with the chemotherapy drug Taxotere.

Plaintiff Angela J. says her Taxotere side effects included disfiguring permanent hair loss. She says she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in her right breast in January 2012, then in her left breast in March 2014.

After surgical removal of both breasts, Angela says, she went through chemotherapy that included treatment with the defendants’ drug Taxotere.

She says that because the defendants failed to inform her and her care providers about Taxotere hair loss, it wasn’t until early 2016 that she found out her continuing hair loss was related to her Taxotere treatment.

Angela’s Taxotere lawsuit names as defendants Sanofi SA, Aventis Pharma SA and Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, all of which she alleges have a hand in the development, manufacture, and sale of Taxotere.

Taxotere Side Effects

Taxotere is one of many different chemotherapy drugs approved by the FDA to treat several different kinds of cancer in addition to breast cancer. It’s also known under its generic name docetaxel and is in a class of chemotherapy drugs known as taxanes, all of which are derived from a plant source.

Although hair loss is a common side effect of chemotherapy, that loss is normally only temporary, according to Angela. That’s not the case with Taxotere side effects, she says: more often than with other drugs, Taxotere hair loss can be prolonged or even permanent.

She cites a clinical study called the GEICAM 9805 study, in which she says 9.2 percent of Taxotere patients had persistent hair loss for up to 10 years, and in some cases even longer than that.

An oncologist from Denver noted that among his own patients, 6.3 percent of those who had been treated with Taxotere suffered from permanent disfiguring hair loss even years after their chemotherapy stopped.

Angela claims that the rate of permanent hair loss related to Taxotere side effects is far greater than that associated with other chemotherapy drugs.

She says the manufacturers of Taxotere knew or should have known this about Taxotere hair loss, yet failed to properly warn the public or the medical community about this side effect.

She alleges the defendants have never issued a proper warning about Taxotere hair loss in the U.S., despite having advised physicians, patients and regulatory authorities in other countries that Taxotere is associated with a higher risk of permanent and disfiguring hair loss.

Aggravating the defendants’ culpability is the fact that other alternative medications exist that do not create the same risk of permanent hair loss, Angela says. She says that by withholding information about the risk of Taxotere hair loss, the defendants have deprived women of the opportunity to choose a medication less likely to cause permanent hair loss.

Angela says that permanent baldness is a disfiguring condition, particularly for women. Female chemotherapy patients who suffer from this condition tend to suffer mental distress that, in addition to being harmful itself, can sometimes preclude them from being able to work.

If you or someone you know has suffered from Taxotere side effects including permanent or long-term hair loss, you may be entitled to compensation.

Angela’s Taxotere lawsuit is Case No. 3:16-CV-288 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.