A Connecticut woman has filed a lawsuit against Sanofi Aventis after she experienced permanent hair loss after chemo treatment, joining the larger Taxotere multidistrict litigation.

Plaintiff Daisy A. began taking Taxotere, a popular chemotherapy drug, in November 2011. She continued Taxotere treatment until January 2012.

She claims that she suffered permanent hair loss from chemo treatment because she was administered Taxotere.

According to her short form complaint, Daisy has experienced “severe and personal injuries that are permanent and lasting in nature including economic and non-economic damages, harms and losses.”

These losses include “past and future medical expenses; psychological counseling and therapy expenses; past and future loss of earnings; past and future loss and impairment of earning capacity, permanent disfigurement, including permanent alopecia; mental anguish” and other damages.

She alleges she has and is still suffering from severe and debilitating emotional distress, as well as an increased risk of future harm and physical and mental pain. She claims that her quality of life has been impaired and she continues to experience suffering and discomfort. For all of these things, she holds the drug makers responsible.

Taxotere Hair Loss from Chemo

Those who undergo chemotherapy expect to lose their hair. Chemotherapy targets quickly growing cells in order to inhibit cancer growth. Unfortunately, the cells that encourage hair growth are also easy targets for chemo drugs.

With chemotherapy, patients often experience temporary hair loss from chemo. However, when treatment ends, hair usually grows back.

Many patients who take Taxotere have reported permanent hair loss from chemo treatment, something about which they were not warned, they claim.

In fact, Daisy is one such patient. Daisy is filing her lawsuit on counts of failure to warn, misrepresentation, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, fraud and deceit, and breach of express warranty.

Taxotere, generically known as docetaxel, has been approved for over 20 years by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of cancer. It is primarily used to treat breast cancer but it can also be used to treat lung cancer, prostate cancer, head cancer and neck cancer.

When it was approved, it was “indicated for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer after failure of prior chemotherapy,” the multidistrict litigation states.

Taxotere patients often claim that they experience permanent and disfiguring hair loss after chemo, something that is unexpected and for many women, devastating. Studies have shown that up to ten percent of Taxotere patients experience some kind of long-term hair loss after chemo with this possibility increasing if used in conjunction with other chemotherapy drugs.

Additionally, many plaintiffs claim that Sanofi Aventis covered up the relationship between Taxotere and permanent hair loss after chemo. According to the MDL, they knew or should have known that the “rate of permanent alopecia related to Taxotere was far greater than with other products available to treat the same condition.”

This Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-07720 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. It is part of the Taxotere MDL, In re: Taxotere (Docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2740.