A new Taxotere alopecia lawsuit has been filed against Sanofi Aventis targeting the company’s breast cancer chemotherapy drug treatment, Taxotere.

Plaintiff Lisa S. filed this Taxotere alopecia lawsuit after suffering from permanent alopecia as the alleged result of having undergone chemotherapy treatment with the use of Taxotere.

Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer in Sept. 2014 and met with her physician to discuss treatment using chemotherapy shortly thereafter, the Taxotere alopecia lawsuit states. Lisa underwent Taxotere chemotherapy from January 2015 through February 2015.

She claims neither her nor her healthcare providers were informed by the drug’s manufacturer that permanent hair loss was a possibility following treatment with Taxotere.

Women undergoing breast cancer chemotherapy treatment expect that they will lose their hair as a result of the chemotherapy.

Because chemotherapy drugs target the rapidly dividing cells, and hair follicles are some of the most rapidly dividing cells in the body, these cells are attacked, causing patients to lose their hair.

However, patients expect that they will regrow their hair shortly after chemotherapy is discontinued. Most women begin to grow their hair back starting at about three months after the last chemotherapy treatment.

Lisa’s Taxotere alopecia lawsuit alleges that the drug’s manufacturers “continually have made false claims of superior efficacy and omitted safety information.”

The lawsuit states that in November 2003, the FDA sent warning letters to the manufacturers in objection to three direct-to-consumer print advertisements for the chemotherapy drug.

According to the Taxotere alopecia lawsuit, the FDA found these advertisements misleading because “they suggest that Taxotere is more effective than has been demonstrated by substantial evidence or substantial clinical experience”

In 2009, the FDA issued another letter to the manufacturer “stating that the promotional material for Taxotere again had unsubstantiated superiority claims and overstatements of efficacy,” according to the Taxotere alopecia lawsuit.

Additionally, a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit was filed against Sanofi-Aventis by a former employee that accused the company of “engaging in a fraudulent marketing scheme, paying kickbacks, and providing other unlawful incentives to entice doctors to use Taxotere,” the Taxotere alopecia lawsuit states.

The plaintiff alleges that Taxotere’s manufacturers knew about the risk of permanent alopecia, but chose to hide these risks from patients in the United States while patients in other countries were informed of the same risks.

“While Defendants did advise physicians, patients, and regulatory agencies and other countries, including Canada and the European Union, that Taxotere causes an increased risk of permanent alopecia, such warnings do not appear in information published by Defendants in the United States prior to December 2015,” Lisa’s lawsuit claims.

Lisa has brought forth several counts against the manufacturer in her Taxotere alopecia lawsuit including strict liability for failure to warn.

In her Taxotere alopecia lawsuit, Lisa concludes, “Defendants’ conduct was despicable and so contemptible that it would be looked down upon and despised by ordinary decent people, and was carried out by Defendants with willful and conscious disregard for the safety of the Plaintiff, entitling Plaintiff to exemplary damages.”

The plaintiff is seeking general damages for both past and future medical expenses, mental and emotional distress, punitive or exemplary damages, restitution, disgorgement of profits or other relief, pre–and post-judgment interest, attorneys’ fees and costs and any further relief as deemed just and proper by the court.

The Taxotere Alopecia Lawsuit is Case No. 0:16-cv-3079, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.