A Mississippi woman’s Taxotere alopecia lawsuit has joined more than a thousand others that are part of the multidistrict litigation against the makers of Taxotere currently underway in Louisiana federal court.

Plaintiff Linda N. brought forth her Taxotere alopecia lawsuit against Sanofi-Aventis and its related companies after she had been prescribed Taxotere to treat her breast cancer. Linda was treated with Taxotere from October 2014 to January 2015, according to her short form complaint.

According to her Taxotere lawsuit, Linda experienced “permanent hair loss approximately 6 months after discontinued use of Taxotere to present.”

Linda has brought forth eight counts against the defendants including strict products liability for failure to warn and for misrepresentation, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, fraud and deceit and breach of express warranty.

The Taxotere Alopecia Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-04793-KDE-MBN and is part of the Taxotere MDL In re: Taxotere (docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2740, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

What is Taxotere?

Taxotere (docetaxel) is an intravenous chemotherapy drug that is primarily used to treat breast cancer. It is approved to treat other cancers as well, but the vast majority of patients treated with Taxotere are those suffering from a breast cancer diagnosis.

According to information contained in lawsuits against the manufacturers of Taxotere, Taxotere was not intended as a first-line treatment for breast cancer. Rather, it was set aside for treating patients who may not have responded to other chemotherapy treatments first.

Women undergoing breast cancer treatment realize that they will lose their hair during the treatment process. This happens because chemotherapy agents target rapidly dividing cells of the body, and hair follicles are some of the fastest dividing cells in the body. When the hair follicles are targeted by the drug, hair loss ensues.

However, with other chemotherapy drugs, the hair tends to grow back after treatment has concluded. For approximately 10% of women undergoing treatment with Taxotere, their hair never grows back, even years later.

Allegations against Taxotere Manufacturers

Women filing a Taxotere alopecia lawsuit state that the manufacturer failed to adequately warn patients and physicians of the possibility that hair loss with Taxotere treatment could be permanent.

They state that this information was missing from informed consent procedures, and that women would not have chosen to undergo treatment with a chemotherapy drug that caused permanent disfiguring hair loss.

The allegations also state that patients and physicians in Europe and Canada had already previously received warnings of permanent hair loss from the manufacturer, but patients and physicians in the United States were denied this information until later.

Women allege that the manufacturers failed in multiple ways to adequately warn of the permanent and disfiguring hair loss side effect, affecting many women in ways that permanently altered their life, going beyond the difficulty of dealing with breast cancer and the initial difficulty of chemotherapy and hair loss that women using other treatments undergo.

Filing a Taxotere Alopecia Lawsuit

If you suffered from permanent hair loss after your chemotherapy treatment with Taxotere, you may be eligible to seek legal compensation by filing a Taxotere alopecia lawsuit.

Plaintiffs may seek damages related to medical expenses, loss of job earnings and earning capacity, physical disfigurement, emotional distress, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and more.

An experienced attorney familiar with the issues surrounding Taxotere can review your case during a free consultation and can explain the legal options that are available to you as you consider moving forward with legal action.