A Louisiana woman claims the makers of Taxotere failed to warn her about the risks of permanent hair loss after chemotherapy.

Plaintiff Faith S. is suing defendant Sanofi-Aventis US, LLC and its related companies. Faith alleges these companies failed to issue an adequate warning about the risk of permanent hair loss after chemotherapy associated with their drug Taxotere.

Faith says she was treated with Taxotere from March to June 2012. She alleges that before undergoing that treatment, she was not aware that Taxotere was associated with a risk of permanent hair loss after chemotherapy. Neither were her treating physicians, she claims.

Following that treatment, Faith says she suffered from disfiguring permanent alopecia, a type of severe and prolonged hair loss. Had she been aware of the risk of such an outcome, she would not have agreed to use Taxotere in her chemotherapy, she states.

Faith’s Taxotere lawsuit is one of several others like it in the Taxotere multidistrict litigation, or MDL.

Since these claims share many common factual and legal issues, a federal panel created the MDL by transferring them all to the same court in New Orleans, in the interest of conducting more efficient and consistent pretrial procedures.

Taxotere is a drug used in chemotherapy. It’s seen particularly frequent use in cases of breast cancer that have not responded well to other treatments.

Taxotere initially failed to receive FDA approval when Sanofi-Aventis’s predecessor submitted it for approval in 1994. The agency’s Drug Advisory Panel concluded that more clinical studies of Taxotere’s side effects were needed.

The FDA later approved Taxotere for U.S. sales in 1996.

Plaintiffs Didn’t Expect Permanent Hair Loss After Chemotherapy

While hair loss is a common after-effect of many kinds of chemotherapy drugs, it usually isn’t permanent. Plaintiffs allege the hair loss they suffered after Taxotere treatment was different. Some allege their hair loss has failed to resolve years after cessation of chemotherapy.

Faith and other Taxotere patients are now alleging that Sanofi-Aventis knew about the risk that they would suffer from permanent hair loss after chemotherapy, yet still failed to issue a proper warning about that risk.

According to the plaintiffs, Sanofi-Aventis was aware or should have been aware of clinical studies like the GEICAM 9805 study. More than nine percent of patients in that study suffered from long-term hair loss lasting up to ten years or more, plaintiffs say.

Another review by a Denver oncologist reported that more than six percent of his patients suffered from long-term hair loss years after they stopped using Taxotere.

Plaintiffs argue that despite being aware of studies like these, Sanofi-Aventis has continued to promote Taxotere as a safe and effective drug, without providing any adequate warning about the risk of permanent baldness.

Faith adds that permanent hair loss is particularly disfiguring for women.

“Women who experienced disfiguring permanent alopecia as a result of the use of TAXOTERE suffer great mental anguish as well as economic damages, including, but not limited to, loss of work or inability to work due to significant psychological damage,” her Taxotere lawsuit says.

Faith’s Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-00172 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The Taxotere MDL is In re: Taxotere (Docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2740, also in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.