Sanofi Aventis is facing a growing wave of litigation from numerous women, each of whom filed her own Taxotere chemo drug lawsuit.

One of the most recent claims comes from an Illinois couple, who filed their Taxotere chemo drug lawsuit after the drug had allegedly caused the woman to develop alopecia.

Plaintiffs Phyllis A. and Leroy A. filed their Taxotere chemo drug lawsuit after Phyllis allegedly developed permanent hair loss and disfigurement. According to their Taxotere chemo drug lawsuit, Phyllis had been diagnosed with breast cancer in the past few years.

After reviewing different options, Phyllis had agreed to undergo Taxotere chemotherapy and had the drug administered in a strict schedule. Phyllis had been treated with Taxotere between Sept. 22, 2011 through Jan. 12, 2012, and had reportedly developed alopecia during this time.

While hair loss is a common side effect in chemotherapy, permanent alopecia is much more unusual. This is because chemotherapy works by targeting rapidly growing cells, which makes hair follicles one of the first cells to be targeted.

Taxotere was approved by the FDA in the mid 1990s and was originally meant to treat breast cancer, but has since been expanded to treat other cancers. Judy and many other patients had relied on the claims made by Sanofi Aventis.

Overview of Taxotere Hair Loss Allegations

Even though hair loss is common with chemotherapy, patients can typically expect their hair to grow back at some point after their treatment. Sanofi Aventis also stated this was the case regarding Taxotere, as the warning label states their hair will “generally grow back.”

This has reportedly not been the case for many Taxotere patients, with many of them alleging the company either knew or should have known their warning label was not adequate. At all times relevant, Phyllis had followed all prescription instructions and medical advice.

Even with this diligence, Phyllis had still allegedly developed alopecia and has since had to contend with her condition. Phyllis and her husband opted to file their Taxotere chemo drug lawsuit, after discovering the company may have known about the drug’s connection with permanent baldness.

This was based on a December 2015 warning from the FDA, which warned Taxotere may induce permanent hair loss or alopecia.

Claims like Phyllis and Leroy’s were eventually consolidated into a single multidistrict litigation, MDL No. 2740. Processing similar claims this way conserves the court system’s resources and allows the couple’s Taxotere chemo drug lawsuit to quickly progress to different stages. This also prevents the claim from running into conflicting rulings and duplicating discovery requests.

Phyllis states that Sanofi Aventis either knew or should have known about Taxotere’s link to permanent baldness, and failed to warn the public. Phyllis states she never would have opted for the drug, if she had known the risk of permanent alopecia.

This Taxotere Chemo Drug Lawsuit is ase No. 2:17-cv-07359-KDE-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.