A woman who has suffered permanent chemotherapy hair loss has filed a lawsuit against the makers of Taxotere.

Plaintiff Janine L. says she received Taxotere chemotherapy treatments from Aug. 13, 2015 through Dec. 2, 2015. She allegedly continues to suffer from the loss of eyebrows, eyelashes, hair on her scalp, and emotional injuries as a result.

Janine’s complaint joins a Taxotere MDL filed against Sanofi US Services Inc. and its affiliated pharmaceutical businesses.

Cancer patients who endure chemotherapy understand that chemotherapy hair loss is a possible side effect, but the hair grows back when treatment ends. Taxotere is different because in a certain number of patients, the hair never grows back, a potential side effect that was allegedly hidden from the American medical community and patients for years.

Sanofi marketed Taxotere as a superior and more effective chemotherapy choice over competitor Taxol. While Taxotere is more toxic, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008 indicated Taxol was more effective than Taxotere when used in combination with other standard chemotherapy drugs.

According to the chemotherapy hair loss MDL, “Sanofi directed its U.S. sales force to misrepresent the safety and effectiveness of the off-label use of Taxotere to expand the market for Taxotere in unapproved settings, such as a first-line of treatment for early-stage breast cancer.”

What Causes Chemotherapy Hair Loss?

Chemotherapy treatments target the cells in the body that are rapidly dividing. Because hair follicles are some of the fastest growing cells in the human body, the hair follicles are most likely to be susceptible to collateral damage.

Simply put, hair grows in three cycles, and 90 percent of hair is in the growing phase. Chemotherapy stops the hair growth, which results in hair loss beginning one to three weeks after chemotherapy begins.

As the hair follicles go through a resting cycle, the hair will return once the growth cycle starts again. The Mayo Clinic says that hair grows back within three to six months after treatment stops.

Chemotherapy hair loss from Taxotere is permanent in up to 6.3 percent of patients. Taxotere hair loss not only affects the hair on the head, but also the eyebrows, eyelashes and body hair.

According to the chemotherapy hair loss MDL, the women “have struggled to return to normalcy, even after surviving cancer because an integral element of their identities, their hair, never returned.”

These women live daily with baldness, which is considered a universal indication of cancer treatment. The chemotherapy hair loss lawsuit says the baldness is a constant reminder that they endured cancer and that the hair loss affects the perception others have of them.

Social isolation and depression often allegedly are outcomes of the permanent chemotherapy hair loss because these women still appear ill.

The Chemotherapy Hair Loss Lawsuit is Case No. 2.16-md-02740-KDE-MBN and is part of the Taxotere MDL, In re: Taxotere (docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2740, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.