Numerous women who were prescribed Taxotere (docetaxel) have been allegedly developing permanent alopecia after chemo treatments. Many of these patients have opted to filed legal action against manufacturer Sanofi Aventis, alleging the company failed to warn them that they could develop permanent alopecia after chemo.

One of the most recent Taxotere lawsuits filed was by a woman from South Carolina, alleging she developed permanent alopecia after chemo treatments and has been contending with it ever since. Like many other women, plaintiff Teri D. had been diagnosed with breast cancer and spoke with her oncologist regarding several treatment options.

When Taxotere had been brought up, she says the chemotherapy drug’s warning label stated that hair generally grows back after treatment and made no mention of potentially permanent alopecia. With this in mind, her Taxotere prescription regimen started in June 2012 and lasted until August 2012.

During the course of this treatment, Teri says she developed permanent alopecia and has been experiencing serious mental and emotional anguish from the hair loss.

Teri opted to take legal action after discovering other women had developed permanent alopecia after chemo treatments consisting of Taxotere.

Overview of Chemotherapy Hair Loss

Taxotere is a popular chemotherapy drug used for breast cancer, and can also be prescribed to treat other variants of the disease. This medication works by attacking rapidly reproducing cells, which often makes hair follicles one of the first groups of cells to be attacked.

While hair loss is a common side effect of chemotherapy, permanent alopecia is much rarer. Patients say this side effect should be noted on the drug’s warning label if there have been reported cases.

Taxotere was linked to permanent alopecia in the mid-2000s, by Dr. Scot Sedlacek and his team from the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers. The study found that 6.3 percent of breast cancer patients grew back less than 50 percent of their hair when they were prescribed Taxotere.

The risk of Taxotere alopecia was eventually addressed in December 2015, when the FDA issued a label change for permanent alopecia to be included in the drug’s potential side effects.

It has been alleged that Sanofi Aventis knew that Taxotere patients could develop permanent alopecia after chemo treatments, based on the fact that European patients received this warning years earlier. Even though these complications can be devastating to patients, many of them claim Sanofi Aventis failed to disclose this information to the public.

Teri states she would not have agreed to initiate Taxotere treatment if she had known that she could have developed permanent alopecia after chemo. At all times relevant, Teri says she relied on the product information and marketing statements provided by Sanofi Aventis and had no way of knowing of the alleged correlation.

Teri’s Taxotere lawsuit is joining MDL No. 2740, where it will be joining other claims from patients alleging permanent alopecia after chemo treatments. By joining an MDL, Teri’s claim will be streamlined through the litigation process and will avoid potential problems like conflicting rulings from different judges.

Teri is seeking multiple damages in her Taxotere lawsuit, including counts of negligence and failure to warn.

This Permanent Alopecia After Chemo Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-10132-JTM-MBN, in the U.S. District Court of Eastern District of Louisiana.