Taxotere patients who took the drug to fight breast cancer say they were never warned of a side effect – permanent hair loss.

As most women who have faced chemotherapy will testify, the prospect of losing their hair ranks highly on their list of anxieties.

The phrase ‘I felt that I had lost my femininity’ is often heard from patients. Usually, once chemo has finished and a month or so has elapsed, the hair begins to grow back. And after a year the patient should have a full head of hair. But what happens if it does not return?

This seems to be a sometimes devastating side effect of a chemotherapy drug called Taxotere, also known as docetaxel, which is used in combination with other breast cancer drugs.

One of these Taxotere patients, Shirley L., of Brittany, France, said: “It’s like having ‘I am a cancer sufferer’ tattooed on your forehead. … I look like an 80-year-old, ugly old man.”

Shirley was given the drug as part of her treatment for breast cancer in October 2005.

Taxotere (docetaxel) is a chemotherapy drug approved in the treatment of breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, advanced stomach cancer, head and neck cancer and metastatic prostate cancer.

This lasting side effect of the chemotherapy drug Taxotere, in combination with other drugs, came to light when cancer patients began living longer. These women are now finding that survival comes at a cost.

Balding women from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and France are calling themselves the Taxotears. They include one Taxoterrorist, the nickname for Shirley, who posted pictures of her balding head on the Facebook page of the pharmaceutical company.

“We want every woman who’s been offered Taxotere to know it is a possibility, so it is her choice whether to take the risk or not,” Shirley said.

Taxotere Patients Say They Weren’t Warned

The drug’s manufacturers, Sanofi-Aventis, say hair loss is a common side effect of all chemotherapy drugs, and claimed permanent hair loss was known by doctors to be a ‘very rare’ complication of such treatments.

According to Sanofi-Aventis, manufacturer of Taxotere, only 3 percent of patients who receive the drug could experience long-term alopecia.

Yet, according to Shirley, when she requested specific data and reports regarding Taxotere hair loss from Sanofi in 2008, the drug maker’s response was that they knew of only one study of 496 Taxotere patients, of which only 7 reported “prolonged significant alopecia at a median of five years follow up.”

Shirley continued to write letters to Sanofi asking for more data on Taxotere patients, but the company continued to fail to disclose any information, with one letter stating:

“… we are unable to provide figures for the number of cases of alopecia associated with Taxotere reported into the company… the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the government agency which is responsible for medicines and medical devices work, publish complete listings of all suspected adverse drug reactions or side effects which have been reported by healthcare professionals and patients … I am afraid that there is nothing more we can do to help you with this chain of enquiry.”

But, researchers have found that as many as one in 16 Taxotere patients could suffer from persistent alopecia – permanent baldness – but campaigners say patients are not being warned of the risk.

In fact, Sanofi’s claim that Taxotere baldness only occurred in 7 of 496 patients is disputed in a study by the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center in Colorado, which says that this figure could rise to as high as 6.3 percent when given in combination with other certain drugs.

It is disputed again by the results of a questionnaire sent out in October 2013 by The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, to 189 Taxotere patients who received the drug during 2010. Of the returned 134 questionnaires, 15.8 percent (21) were left with significant persistent scalp hair loss.

Taxotere Hair Loss and Other Taxotere Side Effects

Taxotere is associated with side effects common for chemotherapy drugs, including mouth sores, nausea, excessive fatigue, muscle or bone pain, and low platelet count.

Other known Taxotere side effects include the following:

• Weakness
• Light-headed feeling
• Nausea
• Fever and chills
• Swelling of the ankles and feet
• Redness, swelling, and irritation at the injection site

Additionally, while temporary hair loss may be a possible side effect of chemotherapy, complete and permanent hair loss has been linked to Taxotere side effects. In 2010, Sanofi-Aventis removed language from its label that “hair generally grows back.”

Help for Taxotere Patients

Permanent baldness or alopecia is a disfiguring condition, especially for women.  Women who experience disfiguring permanent Taxotere hair loss suffer great mental anguish as well as economic damages.

Many Taxotere patients were reportedly told that Taxotere side effects may cause them to only experience temporary chemotherapy hair loss. However, some recent reports have found that the chemotherapy hair loss experienced may actually be permanent.

While it is a common side effect for cancer patients to lose body hair during treatment, warnings of permanent chemotherapy hair loss were not added to the Taxotere label until December 2015, much too late for many women who not already had to suffer through cancer treatment, but now permanent Taxotere hair loss as well.

Taxotere patients who experienced permanent hair loss may be eligible to receive substantial compensation for the emotional pain and suffering caused by Taxotere side effects by filing a Taxotere lawsuit.