Another permanent alopecia lawsuit was filed on Sept. 18, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against the developers of Taxotere, a chemotherapy drug used primarily in the treatment of breast cancer.

The plaintiff, America D., is a resident and citizen of the state of New York who received Taxotere treatment in 2003.

With the filing of this permanent Alopecia lawsuit, America D. is joining Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) No. 2740, pending in the Eastern District of Louisiana. MDL No. 2740 is a products liability litigation that groups all complainants against Sanofi Inc., Aventis Pharma S.A., and other Taxotere sponsoring companies into a large unit for administrative streamlining in the federal court system.

The Plaintiff’s Story in This Permanent Alopecia Lawsuit

America D., after being treated with Taxotere in 2003, lost her hair.

Hair loss following chemotherapy for any kind of cancer is not unusual. Drugs of this class kill off fast-growing and multiplying cells like hair, skin, fingernails, and cancer.

What America did not expect however, is that her hair would fail to grow back. This is a condition known as permanent alopecia.

The plaintiff complains of being permanently disfigured and suffering debilitating emotional distress from the permanent hair loss, which has interfered with her enjoyment of life. She believes that this has affected her ability to get and maintain a well-paying job which in turn impairs her economically for the rest of her life.

In the long-form complaint related to this permanent Alopecia lawsuit, the defendants are said to have changed the U.S. domestic label for Taxotere on several occasions, but consistently failed to update the warnings section or add a black box warning to the label regarding the chance of experiencing permanent hair loss after using the product.

This is the case despite label changes in other countries to this effect. Plaintiffs argue these foreign label changes were clear evidence that Sanofi and Aventis knew of this problem occurring in a certain percentage of the treatment population.

America D. is bringing the following counts against Sanofi Inc. and all related subsidiaries involved in the development, testing, manufacturing, promotion, and distribution of Taxotere in this permanent alopecia lawsuit: Strict Products Liability, Failure to Warn; Strict Products Liability for Misrepresentation; Negligence; Negligent Misrepresentation; Fraudulent Misrepresentation; Fraudulent Concealment; Fraud and Deceit; and Breach of Express Warranty.

She is asking that all matters in her case go to trial as seen fit and hopes for a verdict against the defendants with an award on her behalf.

As part of that award, America D. is asking for compensatory damages which take into account her medical bills for past and future treatment, her pain, suffering, and mental anguish along with the need for psychological treatment and its cost. She is also asking for consideration of her loss of wages and earning power and for the return of any attorney’s fees and court costs.

The Permanent Alopecia Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-09173-KDE-MBN in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. It is part of MDL No. 2740 regarding Taxotere products liability.