A lawsuit has been filed against Sanofi-Aventis, the maker of the chemotherapy drug Taxotere, by a woman who claims she suffered Taxotere permanent alopecia after her breast cancer chemotherapy treatment.

Plaintiff Inell L.’s lawsuit joins nearly 1,300 others in the Taxotere multidistrict litigation that is taking place in Louisiana federal court.

There have been so many claims of women claiming Taxotere permanent alopecia after receiving treatment for breast cancer that the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has consolidated all of these claims into a single federal court under a single judge.

By establishing a multidistrict litigation for the Taxotere lawsuits, pretrial discovery can be coordinated in a more efficient manner. By having all of the lawsuits in one place, this reduces duplication of discovery, serves for the convenience of the parties involved and helps reduce conflicting rulings that may have occurred if these lawsuits were tried in different courts.

Inell stated in her lawsuit that she underwent chemotherapy from Dec. 28, 2009, through March 24, 2010. She states that she developed Taxotere permanent alopecia after treatment and continues to deal with permanent alopecia to the time of filing her Taxotere lawsuit in July 2017.

Taxotere (docetaxel) is cancer chemotherapy drug that is administered intravenously to patients. While it is used to treat a number of different of cancers, it is most commonly associated with the treatment of breast cancer.

While it is anticipated that women will lose their hair after their treatment for breast cancer begins, they do expect that once chemotherapy ends, their hair will grow back after several months. Women who used Taxotere believed this to be the case.

However, it is estimated that up to 10% of women who have used Taxotere as their breast cancer chemotherapy treatment suffer from permanent hair loss and their hair may never grow back.

As one can imagine, it is difficult enough to go through the chemotherapy process and to lose hair. The plaintiffs who have filed Taxotere permanent alopecia lawsuits state that this difficulty has been amplified.

This is due to the fact that their hair loss has remained permanent, causing them physical disfigurement and severe emotional distress, with many being unable to work due to the toll their hair loss is taken.

Additionally, the Taxotere permanent alopecia lawsuit states that patients, physicians and the general public in other countries were notified before patients in the U.S. that Taxotere was linked to permanent hair loss.

Warnings appeared in Taxotere labels in the European Union and Canada before any information was released to the American public, the lawsuit states.

As a result of her Taxotere permanent alopecia, Inell has brought forth a number of counts against the manufacturer including strict products liability for failure to warn and for misrepresentation, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, fraud and deceit and breach of express warranty.

While Inell’s short form complaint for her Taxotere permanent alopecia lawsuit does not detail the specific damages she is seeking, most plaintiffs are seeking damages related to medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, pain and suffering, loss of earnings and earning capacity, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of spousal companionship and more.

The Taxotere Permanent Alopecia Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-06886-KDE-MBN and is part of the Taxotere MDL In re: Taxotere (docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2740, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.