A new lawsuit has been filed that joins others pending in a multidistrict litigation in a Louisiana federal court.

The plaintiff, Tracy G., claims she has suffered permanent hair loss from chemotherapy drug Taxotere. She has named the Sanofi U.S. Services Inc. and related affiliates as defendants in her complaint filed on May 3, 2018.

While currently residing in the state of New York, Tracy purports to have sustained injury from the chemotherapy drug while under treatment for cancer in the state of Massachusetts.

Her short-form documentation indicates that she was subject to Taxotere administration from January 9 to April 24, 2014. As a direct consequence of this intervention, Tracy admits to ongoing thinning and patchy permanent hair loss from chemotherapy drug Taxotere.

The complainant echoes in her lawsuit several of the causes of action against the defendants listed in the MDL long-form documentation. These causes of action include strict liability, negligence, misrepresentation and fraud.

Tracy also brings an additional cause of action against the defendant in which she alleges violations of the State of Massachusetts law which prohibits unfair and deceptive trade practices and consumer fraud.

Because of the plaintiff’s alleged permanent hair loss from chemotherapy drug Taxotere and associated disfigurement, she is seeking a trial by jury with an appropriate award for her infliction and suffering.

She asks that this award include recognition of her injuries, special and treble damages, all costs of litigation, and prejudgment and post-judgment interest.

The History of Taxotere and Alleged Side Effects of Permanent Hair Loss from Chemotherapy Drug

Taxotere became commercially available through approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 1996. Due to its strength, the FDA initially indicated that Taxotere should be reserved for breast cancer sufferers whose cancer had spread within a localized or extensive region and that had not had a response from other, less toxic chemotherapy trials.

Through further pushing by the drug’s manufacturers, more approved uses were sought after and eventually gained. The defendants claimed through evidence generated by in-house clinical trials that this drug treatment was more effective at eradicating breast cancer than its chief competitor, Taxol.

After some time on the market, surveillance of Taxotere’s performance painted another picture in which the chemotherapy drug was shown not to have greater or better effectiveness. These studies, according to the MDL, were concealed by the defendants and not made available to the FDA or the professional medical community.

Additionally, the Sanofi Co. sponsored a study known as Geicam 9805 which started in the late 1990s. The results of the study revealed by 2005 that close to 10% of women subjected to Taxotere experienced permanent hair loss from chemotherapy treatment. These findings were also allegedly withheld.

The Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-04590-KDE-MBN in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.