A new lawsuit filed on July 3, 2018 in the U.S. District for the Eastern District of Louisiana alleges that permanent hair loss was among the unanticipated side effects of docetaxel—a breast cancer chemotherapy drug more commonly known by the brand name Taxotere.

Colorado plaintiff Linda K. filed her legal complaint against Accord Healthcare Inc. and McKesson Corp. joining several other plaintiffs alleging similar side effects of docetaxel under Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) No. 2740, Taxotere products liability litigation.

According to the short-form complaint, Linda K. was treated with docetaxel injection for breast cancer in the state of Colorado from Nov. 19, 2012 until March 5, 2013.

She claims that although she expected to temporarily lose her hair—as is the norm with most chemotherapy treatments—she didn’t expect to be disfigured from permanent hair loss side effects of docetaxel when she chose the treatment method in consultation with her physician.

Because of the side effects of docetaxel she didn’t anticipate and felt ill-prepared to handle, Linda has chosen to bring the following causes of action originally listed in the MDL forward into her legal complaint against the defendants:

Count 1: Strict Products Liability, Failure to Warn

Count 3: Negligence

Count 4: Negligent Misrepresentation

Count 5: Fraudulent Misrepresentation

Count 6: Fraudulent Concealment

Count 7: Fraud and Deceit

MDL Names Permanent Alopecia Among Side Effects of Docetaxel

According to the MDL long-form complaint, a study known as GEICAM 2805 which was started in the late 1990s revealed that approximately 10 percent of people treated with Taxotere for breast cancer experience permanent baldness or alopecia. This information was allegedly known to the drug’s manufacturer as early as 2005.

Despite this knowledge, plaintiffs claim, the company failed to alert the professional medical community or consuming public of the risk of experience the disfiguring side effects of docetaxel.

Warnings in the U.S. labeling of the chemotherapy drug continued to be indirect—promising probable regrowth of lost hair following treatment—while purportedly fully alerting drug oversight and regulatory agencies in Canada and the European union of the increased risk of permanent alopecia.

The labeling underwent several U.S. changes, as presented in the original lawsuit narrative, which presented multiple opportunities to include pertinent warnings regarding permanent baldness risk.

These opportunities were allegedly not taken, and information regarding this psychologically-traumatizing side effect was not provided to countless women who might have made an alternate choice of treatment for their breast cancer had they known. No mention of permanent baldness or permanent alopecia risks appeared with the U.S. labeling until December 2015.

This alleged failure to warn is at the heart of hundreds of lawsuits against the defendants who allegedly put profit above consideration for the vulnerable state of breast cancer patients.

If you or a loved one was treated with docetaxel—Taxotere—for metastatic breast cancer and have experienced irreversible hair loss or permanent alopecia, you may have a legal claim.

The Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 223741108 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.