Sanofi Aventis is facing a new product liability claim from a woman alleging Taxotere chemotherapy for breast cancer had caused her to develop permanent alopecia.

Also known as permanent baldness or hair loss, alopecia has become widely associated with Taxotere chemotherapy for breast cancer. Numerous women across the country reportedly lost their hair and have been unable to regrow it after undergoing Taxotere chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Taxotere (docetaxel) is a popular chemotherapy drug that has been on the market since the 1990s, and was originally approved to treat breast cancer. Even though it has since been approved to treat other cancers, Taxotere remains the primary choice for breast cancer treatment.

Plaintiff Joanna P. was one of these patients who was prescribed Taxotere chemotherapy for breast cancer by her oncologist in June 2016. She says she underwent Taxotere chemotherapy for breast cancer under strict supervision of her treatment cycles, and did not take the drug outside of its intended purpose.

During the course of her chemotherapy treatment, Joanna had experienced permanent hair loss that has failed to resolve, according to the Taxotere lawsuit. She claims that at no point during the course of her treatment was the possibility of permanent hair loss disclosed to her or her physician.

It is important to note that the Taxotere warning label states that hair “generally grows back” after treatment is completed. Joanna states she would not have agreed to Taxotere chemotherapy for breast cancer if she had known permanent alopeica was a potential complication.

Overview of Taxotere Hair Loss

Hair loss is a fairly common side effect during chemotherapy treatment, due to the biological reactions to the drugs being circulated throughout the body. Chemotherapy works by targeting rapidly reproducing cells, which makes hair follicles among the first cell groups to be attacked.

Permanent alopecia is a fairly rare occurrence in chemotherapy, however, with patients often not having to worry about the possibility. This has allegedly not been the case for many Taxotere patients, who have been allegedly developing permanent hair loss.

Several studies have observed the effects of Taxotere chemotherapy for breast cancer, and have found an increased risk of permanent alopecia. One of these studies was published in 2006 by Dr. Scot Sedlacek, which found that 6.3 percent of breast cancer patients grow back less than 50 percent of their hair after Taxotere chemotherapy treatment.

The FDA eventually warned the public about this correlation in December 2015, when the agency issued a label change for Taxotere’s warning label. The change amended the warning label, to state that permanent alopecia cases have been reported.

It is important to note that European health officials issued this warning years ago, leading many to believe Sanofi Aventis had known about the risk but the company never warned patients in the United States.

This has spurred numerous women to file legal action against Sanofi Aventis, for failing to warn them against potential permanent alopecia. Joanna is one of these patients, alleging the company either knew or should have known about the problem and had the responsibility to warn the public.

Joanna is filing this Taxotere lawsuit seeking multiple damages, including negligence and failure to warn.

This Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-00277-JAD-GWF, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.