Plaintiff Karen E., a former cancer patient, filed a short form complaint in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana against the makers and distributors of Taxotere, alleging the chemotherapy drug caused disfiguring permanent alopecia or hair loss for her.

This short form complaint, filed on June 22, 2017, is part of a multidistrict litigation against defendants Sanofi S.A. and affiliated companies, doing business as Winthrop U.S., and Hospira Inc. and affiliates, formerly known as Hospira Worldwide Inc.

Karen E. identified in her short form complaint that she had rounds of treatment with Taxotere, known generically as docetaxel. The plaintiff had her first round of treatment between March 25 and July 8, 2011. Her second round of treatment came three years later between Feb. 13 and April 14, 2014.

The plaintiff is a resident of the state of Pennsylvania and had her treatments administered in Delaware.

Disfiguring Permanent Alopecia is a Known Taxotere Side Effect

Taxotere is a popular chemotherapy drug which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996. It is used to treat a variety of cancers, but most commonly is used to treat breast cancer.

The plaintiff alleges that the Taxotere chemotherapy rounds left her devastated with a totally disfiguring permanent alopecia which causes her mortifying embarrassment to this day. According to the original long-form complaint, the defendants are accused of failing to disclose the results of their own funded study in 2005 known as GEICAM 9805.

The results of this study found that 9.2 % of patients experienced hair loss that lasted up to ten years. Another study by Dr. Scot Sedlacek of the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers revealed that approximately 6% of former Taxotere patients suffered disfiguring permanent alopecia. 

The long form legal documentation reveals the plaintiff’s belief that the defendants failed them by not including a “black box warning” on their product with the results of these studies.

Despite having changed labeling on numerous occasions and having the data from these studies available, the defendants never mentioned disfiguring permanent alopecia as a risk with the chemotherapy medication in any labeling effort, according to plaintiffs.

In addition to disfiguring permanent alopecia, other side effects of Taxotere have been identified as:

• Weakness
• Fatigue
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Mouth sores
• Temporary hair loss
• Loss of fingernails and toenails
• Peripheral neuropathy or numbness and tingling in extremities that usually indicates nerve damage.
• Muscle or joint pain
• Liver problems
• Low blood platelets

Karen E. brings seven counts against all defendants including strict products liability – failure to warn and misrepresentation, negligence and negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation and fraudulent concealment, and fraud and deceit. Karen E. brings an eighth and final count of breach of express warranty against Sanofi defendants only.

The plaintiff asks for a jury trial and a fair amount of compensation to account for all emotional, physical, and financial damages sustained by her injuries. She also requests monetary offset for all legal expenses including attorney and filing fees as well as pre-judgment and post-judgement interest.

This Disfiguring Permanent Alopecia Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-06025-KDE-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.