A Louisiana woman is bringing a breast cancer lawsuit against pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis over the side effects of its drug Taxotere.

Plaintiff Carol W. says she was diagnosed with breast cancer in her right breast. After a right mastectomy and reconstruction surgery, she and her oncologist made arrangements for adjuvant chemotherapy, according to her Taxtotere breast cancer lawsuit.

Between September and November 2010, Carol allegedly underwent four rounds of chemotherapy using the defendants’ drug Taxotere. She says she subsequently developed disfiguring permanent alopecia, or hair loss, that she now attributes to the Taxotere used in her chemotherapy.

Carol says had she been adequately warned about Taxotere side effects, she never would have taken that drug.

Breast Cancer Lawsuit Says Taxotere Was Defectively Designed

According to Carol’s breast cancer lawsuit, Taxotere is a drug used in chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer and other types of cancer. Also known by its generic name docetaxel, Taxotere is one of a family of plant-derived chemotherapy drugs known as taxanes.

Originally developed in the late 1980s, the FDA approved it for use in the U.S. in 1996 – at first for breast cancer that had not responded to prior chemotherapy, then later for other indications.

Carol alleged the defendants purposely designed Taxotere to be more potent – and therefore more toxic – than other chemotherapy drugs solely to qualify it for its own patent. She argues that the increased potency does not make Taxotere a novel product but instead only makes it more dangerous.

Though the defendants claim Taxotere is more effective for its intended purpose, Carol argues, post-market surveillance shows it does not offer greater efficacy in comparison to other taxanes.

Carol cites a warning letter that Sanofi-Aventis received from the FDA in 2009, saying that some of the company’s representations about Taxotere were “false or misleading” because they presented unsubstantiated claims of superiority and overstated Taxotere’s efficacy.

In her breast cancer lawsuit, Carol now claims defendant Sanofi-Aventis and its related companies actively covered up information about Taxotere side effects, keeping doctors and patients in the dark about the risk of permanent hair loss.

Carol refers to a clinical study from 2005 known as the GEICAM 9805 study. Participants in that study allegedly suffered from persistent alopecia for as long as 10 years and five months after being treated with Taxotere.

She claims Sanofi-Aventis intentionally withheld the results of this study from patient and physicians in the U.S.

The Taxotere breast cancer lawsuit also cites a report from a Denver-based oncologist who said that 6.3 percent of his patients continued to suffer from disfiguring hair loss years after they had stopped taking Taxotere.

Still, Carol claims, Sanofi-Aventis did not alert the medical community to the associated risks.

Carol points out that permanent hair loss is particularly disfiguring for women. The associated disfigurement can cause a great deal of emotional trauma for a female patient, she says in her breast cancer lawsuit. That trauma can translate to financial losses if it becomes severe enough to affect the patient’s ability to work and earn income, she argues.

Carol’s breast cancer lawsuit raises claims for violation of the Louisiana Products Liability Act, specifically via defective design, inadequate warning, and breach of warranty.  She seeks an award of damages, court costs, expert witness fees, and attorney fees, and any other remedy the court may see fit to give her.

If you or someone you love suffered permanent hair loss after treatment with Taxotere, you may be eligible for legal compensation.

The Taxotere Breast Cancer Lawsuit is Case No. 2:16-cv-10763 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.