A Louisiana woman claims chemo drug Taxotere caused her to suffer hair loss that persists more than a decade after her treatment of breast cancer ended.

Plaintiff Karen C. says she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. She says her treatment of breast cancer included chemotherapy using Taxotere.

Following that treatment, she says, she suffered from persistent hair loss, which she expects will persist into the future. She now attributes that hair loss to the Taxotere used in her chemotherapy.

However, Karen says she was unaware of the link between Taxotere and persistent hair loss until around August 2016.

She says around the time of her treatment of breast cancer, neither she nor her treating physicians had been alerted to the risk of permanent alopecia associated with Taxotere.

Had she been made aware of that risk, she claims, she would not have used Taxotere.

Manufacturers Knew Treatment of Breast Cancer Could Cause Permanent Alopecia

As part of her Taxotere lawsuit, Karen alleges the makers of Taxotere were fully aware of the risk that it would cause permanent hair loss but still did not make information about that risk available to patients or their doctors.

She cites an early study of the effects of Taxotere called the GEICAM 9805 study. Results from that study showed that 9.2 percent of patients treated with Taxotere ended up with persistent alopecia that lasted around 10 years and 5 months – and in some cases even longer.

Another study done in 2006 by a Denver-based oncologist concluded that 6.3 percent of his patients who had used Taxotere in their treatment of breast cancer continued to suffer from hair loss years after their treatment was concluded.

Karen says defendant Sanofi-Aventis purposely withheld this information. Instead, the company continues to tell patients and doctors that “hair generally grows back” after treatment with Taxotere, she alleges.

Because of this allegedly purposeful concealment of the relevant facts, Karen and other cancer patients were prevented from making an informed choice about their treatment, she says.

She believes patients lost the opportunity to choose alternatives to Taxotere such as Taxol, which presents a “considerably lower risk profile” than that of Taxotere.

Karen also takes issue with Sanofi-Aventis’s claims that Taxotere has greater efficacy than Taxol. She says that post-market surveillance studies have shown Taxotere actually does not offer greater efficacy or benefits over other taxane chemotherapy drugs.

She cites a study from 2007 that found no significant difference in the efficacy or outcomes when Taxotere was compared to Taxol.

Another study published in 2008 actually concluded that Taxol was more effective than Taxotere in patients undergoing certain types of chemotherapy, Karen says.

Karen’s Taxotere lawsuit raises claims for defective design, inadequate warning, breach of express warranty, breach of warranty in redhibition, fraud, and unfair trade and deceptive practices.

She seeks an award of damages, court costs, attorneys’ fees and expert witness fees, all with pre- and post-judgment interest.

Karen’s Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 2:16-cv-15550, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.