The manufacturers of Taxotere, a prescription medication used in the treatment of breast cancer, face a products liability lawsuit that alleges they had falsely represented the severe adverse effects that can occur as a result of taking their prescription medication.

Allegations are being disclosed that the defendant and manufacturer of Taxotere knew of the permanent hair loss adverse side effect but failed to disclose that information.

According to the Taxotere lawsuit, plaintiff Kayonna H. alleges that she suffered from permanent hair loss after Taxotere and its use during chemotherapy throughout her treatment of breast cancer.

The plaintiff files the products liability litigation in Louisiana federal court.

According to the complaint, the defendants allegedly failed to fully disclose and warn not only the plaintiff but the public at large of the significant risks of suffering from permanent hair loss after Taxotere and the results of taking the medication.

The Taxotere lawsuit alleges that the defendants improperly and insufficiently warned physicians, healthcare providers, and medical practitioners of the significant risks involved in women suffering from alopecia, or permanent hair loss after Taxotere.

According to the plaintiff, the defendants had only provided the general and vague warning label that “hair generally grows back.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has since required the manufacturers to include a label change warning that the drug caused permanent chemotherapy hair loss.

Taxotere was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1996 and is manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis. It was not until December 2015 that the FDA had updated the Taxotere label to include risks of permanent hair loss from the cancer medication.

The Taxotere lawsuit contends that the insufficient warning labels and information left women unable to make sound and correct decisions based on the best chemotherapy treatment for their breast cancer. With the manufacturers allegedly overstating the advantages of the drug’s use and insufficiently disclosing proper warning labels and information, the lawsuit contends that this has allegedly left women feeling scarred and physically disfigured.

Thousands of women, therefore, were allegedly unable to make well-based and accurate decisions, the plaintiff claims. As a result, the defendants disallowed women the right to choose other breast cancer treatments and medications that would instead enable their hair to return after chemotherapy.

Taxotere is a chemotherapy medication that is taken intravenously. It was introduced to the market in the mid-1990s. The drug, which also goes by the name docetaxel, works primarily by attacking cancer cells.

Every cell located in the body contains a skeleton structure called a microtubular network. If the microtubular network becomes damaged or changed, it has the inability to reproduce and grow. Taxotere works by stiffening up the cancer cells, which prevents them from growing.

A study conducted by an oncologist at Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers concluded in 2006 that, after given Taxotere for the treatment of breast cancer, 6.3% of patients studied grew back less than 50% of their hair. Patients had allegedly suffered permanent hair loss after Taxotere.

Moreover, according to a study iterated in the lawsuit (GEICAM 9805) that was conducted by the manufacturers in 2005, the defendants knew of the permanent hair loss after Taxotere. It states that the defendants “knew that the GEICAM 9805 study demonstrated that 9.2% of patients who took Taxotere had persistent alopecia, or hair loss, for up to 10 years and five months, and in some cases longer, after taking Taxotere.”

The Taxotere lawsuit allegedly contends that the defendants “knowingly, intentionally, and wrongfully withheld these results contained in the GEICAM 9805 study from physicians, healthcare providers, patients, and plaintiff in the United States.”

The Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-05794-KDE-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.