Kim Gale  |  January 5, 2018

Category: Legal News

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Taxotere chemo chemotherapy cancer hair loss alopeciaA woman suffering from permanent hair loss from chemotherapy has filed a lawsuit against the makers of Taxotere.

Plaintiff Marilyn M. filed a short form complaint that will join a multidistrict litigation against Sanofi-Aventis, the maker of chemotherapy drug Taxotere.

Marilyn says she received chemotherapy treatments for cancer in 2009. She was aware that temporary hair loss from chemotherapy was a possible side effect, but she says she was unaware that Taxotere could lead to permanent hair loss, also known as permanent alopecia.

Taxotere is used to treat a variety of cancers, including breast cancer. The drug is in a family of medications known as taxanes, which are chemotherapy agents derived from plants. Another taxane is Taxotere’s main competitor, known as Taxol (paclitaxel).

At first, Taxotere was approved by the FDA in May 1996 as a treatment for patients with advanced breast cancer after previous chemotherapy treatments failed. Sanofi-Aventis sought and was granted additional FDA approvals for Taxotere to be used in other situations.

Taxotere underwent clinical trials sponsored by Sanofi according to Marilyn. The outcomes allegedly led Sanofi to claim superiority of Taxotere over other chemotherapy drugs that were approved to treat breast cancer.

Armed with those in-house results, Taxotere’s “marketing claims included claims of superior efficacy over the lower potency taxane product paclitaxel (Taxol), which was the primary competitor product to Taxotere,” says the master complaint from the Taxotere multidistrict litigation.

Marketing Tactics Focused on Drug’s Potency

Pplaintiffs like Marilyn claim post-market results contradict Taxotere’s claims of superiority. Although more potent and toxic, Taxotere allegedly does not offer benefits over other taxanes, says the hair loss from chemotherapy complaint.

The August 2007 issue of Cancer Treatment Review published a review of clinical studies that said “no significant differences were found in the efficacy and outcomes obtained with Taxotere (docetaxel) or Taxol (paclitaxel).”

Although claims of superiority were allegedly debunked, Sanofi-Aventis continued to market Taxotere as a chemotherapy drug that had “superior efficacy” over its competitor.

A former employee filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Sanofi-Aventis, alleging the drug company participated in fraudulent marketing, illegal kickbacks, and unlawful incentives to doctors to entice them to choose Taxotere over Taxol.

Permanent Hair Loss from Chemotherapy was Avoidable

Even though women might have accepted the possibility of permanent hair loss from chemotherapy if no other option was available, that wasn’t the case for many plaintiffs. Other similar products were “at least as effective as Taxotere and did not subject female users to the same risk of disfiguring permanent alopecia as does Taxotere,” says the Taxotere MDL master complaint.

Back in the late 1990s, Sanofi-Aventis sponsored a study called the GEICAM 9805 study. The company knew in 2005 that the study showed 9.2 percent of patients who underwent Taxotere treatments had persistent hair loss from chemotherapy for up to 10 years and five months. Plaintiffs say the test results were withheld from U.S. healthcare providers and patients.

The Hair Loss from Chemotherapy Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-17145 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.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or Taxotere class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Taxotere lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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If you received intravenous chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer and were told that your hair would grow back but it never did, you may have a legal claim. Permanent hair loss is defined as a minimum of 6 months after the Taxotere chemotherapy treatment ended, and there is still no new hair growth. Join this free Taxotere class action lawsuit investigation now!

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