Sanofi Aventis is facing a new Taxotere lawsuit from an Illinois woman alleging she suffered permanent chemotherapy hair loss after using the company’s chemotherapy drug.

Plaintiff Barbara D. was prescribed Taxotere chemotherapy for breast cancer, and had allegedly suffered permanent hair loss even though the Taxotere side effects on the warning label only described the event as temporary, according to her lawsuit.

She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2005, and was prescribed Taxotere for chemotherapy treatment.

When she discussed different treatment options with her oncologists, neither she nor her healthcare providers were aware of that permanent alopecia was apart of the long list of Taxotere side effects, her claim states.

Barbara had begun her chemotherapy for breast cancer in April 2005 and had stayed on the treatment until June 2005.

Even though she only used Taxotere for a short time, Barbara had allegedly suffered permanent chemotherapy hair loss. Up until recently, Barbara did not suspect or believe that her permanent hair loss may have been linked to Taxotere side effects.

Taxotere Sides Effect: Hair Loss

Taxotere permanent hair loss was not mentioned until December 2015, when the FDA issued a warning label update for permanent hair loss to be included in the list of Taxotere side effects.

Sanofi Aventis allegedly knew of this risk as far back as the mid 1990s, but stated that hair “generally grows back” after the treatment is complete, according to the lawsuit.

It should be noted that the European label had been updated to include permanent chemotherapy hair loss much earlier than the United States, resulting in patients and physicians oblivious to the risk for years in the U.S.

Ever since its approval by the FDA 1996, Taxotere has been a popular choice for chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Like most chemotherapy drugs, Taxotere is implemented intravenously and works by killing the cancer cells faster than they can reproduce.

Taxotere is a part of the Taxanes drug family which work by blocking cell growth with cellular structures called microtubules that help move chromosomes during mitosis.

Taxotere has since been approved to treat other forms of cancer, but remains one of the preferred chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer.

However, there were several studies indicating permanent hair loss was linked to Taxotere side effects, several years before the FDA’s warning.

One of these studies was conducted by Dr. Scot Sedlacek, an oncologist at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers in 2006. Dr. Sedlacek had found that 6.3% of breast cancer patients grew back less than 50% of their hair after Taxotere treatment, with the hair loss being worse in patients also given Adriamycin and Cytoxan.

Later studies found similar findings, prompting major concern in the medical community. Barbara is filing this Taxotere lawsuit against Sanofi Aventis for failing to warn her against permanent hair loss.

Barbara states that she never would have used Taxotere if she had known the risk of permanent hair loss, and that the company not only omitted this information but had advertised Taxotere to be superior to other treatment drugs.

The Taxotere Side Effects Lawsuit is Case No. 3:16-cv-0718, in the U.S. District Court of Southern Illinois.