A woman who has suffered a lack of hair growth after chemo has filed a lawsuit against the makers of the drug Taxotere.

Plaintiff Mitzie M. says she received Taxotere chemotherapy treatments from November 2011 through January 2012. According to Mitzie, she “experienced significant hair loss after taking Taxotere, and to date, her hair has not grown back to the same level and quality as before chemotherapy started.”

Mitzie’s hair growth after chemo lawsuit joins a multidistrict litigation, or MDL, currently in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Hundreds of women allege Taxotere’s maker, Sanofi Aventis, failed to warn that a percentage of Taxotere patients would experience little or no hair growth after chemo. Patients allege if they had known the risk of permanently appearing bald and often without eyelashes or eyebrows, they would have chosen an alternative chemotherapy treatment.

Taxotere Overview

Taxotere is a chemo drug primarily used to treat women with breast cancer. Patients claim Sanofi Aventis allegedly knew for years that permanent, disfiguring alopecia (hair loss) could be experienced by Taxotere patients, but failed to warn the health care community and patients.

When Taxotere originally received FDA approval, it was approved only as a second-line of treatment, which meant it was only for use in patients who had undergone a first-line chemotherapy treatment that had failed.

In December 1999, the MDL alleges, hair loss was listed as a “possible side effect of Taxotere” on the labeling for Taxotere. The label said, “Loss of hair occurs in most patients taking Taxotere (including the hair on your head, underarm hair, pubic hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes) […] Once you have completed all your treatments, hair generally grows back.”

Lack of Hair Growth After Chemo

The MDL against Sanofi alleges the company knew in 2005 that Taxotere could cause permanent hair loss after a clinical trial known as GEICAM 9805 was completed. The study showed that 9.2 percent of Taxotere patients had a persistent lack of hair growth after chemo up to 10 years and five months (and sometimes longer) after treatment.

In March 2010, CBS News profiled a group of women who deemed themselves “Taxotears” because they said Taxotere left them with little to no hair growth post-treatment. The report indicated at the time that Taxotere’s prescribing profile did not mention a risk of permanent hair loss and that some studies found as many as 6.3 percent of Taxotere patients never saw their hair grow again.

Researchers from the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in the U.K. sent questionnaires in October 2013 to patients who had received Taxotere treatments in 2010. Of the 189 questionnaires sent, the researchers received 134 responses. Nearly 16 percent (21 patients) experienced no hair growth after chemo treatments with Taxotere.

Women who have suffered a lack of hair growth after chemo say it affects them emotionally and socially. They feel they still appear “sick” even after they have recovered from cancer, and people treat them differently, often forcing them into isolation.

The Hair Growth After Chemo Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-03884 and is part of the Taxotere MDL, In re: Taxotere (docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2740, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.