Sanofi Aventis is facing a growing multidistrict litigation consisting of Taxotere lawsuits alleging disfiguring permanent alopecia. One of the most recent Taxotere lawsuits comes from a Georgia woman who alleges disfiguring permanent alopecia was caused by the company’s chemotherapy drug.

Plaintiff Priscilla R. is filing this Taxotere lawsuit alleging Sanofi Aventis gave false statements regarding how her hair would regrow after chemotherapy. Priscilla was diagnosed with breast cancer and had agreed to Taxotere chemotherapy treatment after discussing the decision with her oncologist.

Priscilla alleges both she and her oncologist agreed Taxotere was a suitable choice based on her illness and that the label promised no serious permanent side effects. According to her Taxotere lawsuit, Priscilla had received chemotherapy treatment between March 15, 2007 and Sept. 4, 2007 under the strict supervision of her oncologist and chemotherapy nurses.

Like most cancer patients, Priscilla experienced hair loss during chemotherapy. She later discovered this hair loss was disfiguring permanent alopecia. According to the Taxotere warning label at the time of Priscilla’s treatment, Sanofi Aventis states the patient can “generally” expect their hair to grow back. Priscilla claims the label did not adequately warn there could potential disfiguring permanent alopecia.

Priscilla opted to joining the growing multidistrict litigation, or MDL, after discovering numerous other breast cancer patients had similar experiences and that the company may have known about this possibility.

Overview of Taxotere Hair Loss

Taxotere (docetaxel) was approved by the FDA in the 1990s to be a chemotherapy drug for breast cancer patients. Over the years it has since been approved to treat other types of cancer, but remains one of the most prominent choices for breast cancer treatment.

Even though millions of patients have been prescribed this drug over the years, numerous reports of disfiguring permanent alopecia have spurred major legal action. Like other chemotherapy drugs, Taxotere works by attacking rapidly reproducing cells.

This means hair follicles are often the first cells attacked, which makes hair loss a fairly common occurrence in the course of chemotherapy treatment. However, patients can typically expect their hair to eventually regrow, which has reportedly not been the case for many Taxotere patients.

There have been several studies conducted observing this alleged correlation, with one inquiry run by Dr. Scot Sedlacek of the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers. He found that 6.3% of breast cancer patients grow back less than 50% of their hair when prescribed Taxotere, with the risk increasing when also combined with Adriamycin (doxorubicin) and Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide).

The studies and injury reports eventually spurred the FDA to issue a label change for Taxotere in December 2015. The FDA ordered Sanofi Aventis to include reported cases of disfiguring permanent alopecia. Sanofi Aventis allegedly knew of this complication for years after European patients received earlier warnings against potential disfiguring permanent alopecia from Taxotere.

Priscilla’s Taxotere hair loss lawsuit is joining MDL No. 2740 where it will stand alongside other claims alleging similar injuries. Priscilla states she would not have opted for Taxotere treatment if she had known there was a risk of disfiguring permanent alopecia.

This Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-13479-KDE-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.