A woman has filed a products liability litigation against the manufacturers of Taxotere, a chemotherapy drug used in the treatment for breast cancer, alleging that it caused permanent hair loss after chemo.

Plaintiff Donna I., a resident of the state of Pennsylvania, filed this Taxotere lawsuit in a Louisiana federal court.

She alleges that she first started using Taxotere on or about April 30, 2012, and that her last use of the medication was on July 2, 2012.

Donna files the following counts against the defendants, including and not limited to: Strict Products Liability; Negligence; Fraudulent Misrepresentation; Fraudulent Concealment; and Breach of Express Warranty.

Permanent Hair Loss After Chemo Joins MDL

Donna’s claim is filed as part of a large multidistrict litigation, or MDL, centered on allegations that the drug Taxotere causes permanent hair loss after chemotherapy.

Taxotere, also called docetaxel, is a medication used in breast cancer chemotherapy treatment. It is given intravenously, or through an IV. Since its U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval, it has been on the market since the mid-1990’s.

European pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis makes Taxotere and is named as a defendant in Donna’s Taxotere lawsuit. The accusations against Sanofi particularly state that they failed to sufficiently add adequate warning labels for the drug. Donna alleges the product information offered with Taxotere only stated that hair “generally grows back” after completion of chemotherapy treatment.

Only after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a label change for the drug, in December 2015, specifically citing cases in which women have permanently lost their hair, had the risk of permanent hair loss after chemo been mentioned.

Additional accusations against Sanofi-Aventis cite that the company knew of the permanent hair loss after chemo risks for years. In fact, the European label for Taxotere allegedly included a warning about the risk for permanent hair loss years before that warning was ever offered with Taxotere sold in the U.S.

As a result, the company is facing a wave of products liability litigation for failing to add such warning labels and to notify potential U.S. consumers.

Studies Report Permanent Hair Loss After Chemo

In a 2011 study published in the American Journal of Dermatopathology, researchers reported finding “increased evidence that certain chemotherapy regimens can cause dose-dependant permanent alopecia,” including that of Taxotere.

A second study published in 2012, by the European Society for Medical Oncology, similarly stated that “permanent and severe alopecia is a newly reported complication of the FEC 100-docetaxel breast cancer regimen.”

The permanent hair loss after chemo lawsuit maintains that due to the defendant’s allegedly inadequate warnings, women across the nation were unable to make sound and accurate decisions as to the best cancer chemotherapy drug for them.

Donna’s Permanent Hair Loss After Chemo Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-07154-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.