A Louisiana woman has filed a new Taxotere injury lawsuit, alleging she suffered permanent hair loss after chemotherapy from the use of the drug.

Plaintiff Joan O. says that she had first started using Sanofi’s chemotherapy drug in April 2009 and used it through July 2009.

She files the permanent hair loss lawsuit in Louisiana federal court raising claims against Taxotere’s makers for strict product liability, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and fraud and deceit.

Permanent Hair Loss After Chemotherapy Lawsuit Joins Others in MDL

Joan’s claim is filed as part of a large multidistrict litigation, or MDL, centered on allegations that the drug Taxotere causes permanent hair loss after chemotherapy.

The French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi S.A. is a named defendant in this Taxotere lawsuit.

The chemotherapy medication, Taxotere, is prescribed to women in their treatment of breast cancer. The lawsuit alleges, however, that the defendant had failed and falsely represented the severe adverse effects that may result, particularly that women have the possibility of permanent hair loss after chemotherapy with the use of the drug.

The allegation being made against Sanofi is that the company purportedly knew of the adverse effects but failed to disclose such consequences.

Joan’s hair loss after chemotherapy lawsuit alleges that the defendants had only provided a vague and general warning of possible side effects and, moreover, failed to adequately warn physicians of the significant risk involved.

Taxotere was initially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May of 1996. But according to the lawsuit, the initial FDA approval was based off “self- sponsored clinical trials,” in which the defendants “claimed superiority over other chemotherapy products approved to treat breast cancer.”

The Taxotere lawsuit maintains that, “contrary to defendants’ claims of superior efficacy, post market surveillance has shown that the more potent and more toxic Taxotere does not in fact offer increased efficacy or benefits over other Taxanes…”

According to the lawsuit, studies have been conducted showing no difference in the effectiveness of Taxotere.

“A study of available clinical studies concerning the relative efficacy of Taxanes in the treatment of breast cancer, published in the August 2007 journal Cancer Treatment Review, concluded that no significant differences were found in the efficacy and outcomes obtained with Taxotere.”

Additionally, “a study published in 2008 in the New England Journal of Medicine, titled ‘Weekly Paclitaxel in the Adjuvant Treatment of Breast Cancer,’ concluded that Taxol was more effective than Taxotere for patients undergoing standard adjuvant chemotherapy…”

Joan alleges that because of the insufficient and inaccurate warning labels, thousands of women were unable to make sound decisions as to the best breast cancer chemotherapy drug for them. Women were disallowed to choose the right medication for them and therefore did not experience hair regrowth after chemotherapy.

The lawsuit maintains that the defendants had overstated the advantages of the drug’s use and insufficiently and inaccurately disclosed proper information and warning labels, such as the risk of permanent hair loss after chemotherapy.

Joan’s Permanent Hair Loss After Chemotherapy Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-06139-KDE-MBN, and is part of the Taxotere Lawsuit MDL In Re: Taxotere (Docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No 2740, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.