A Tennessee woman recently filed a Taxotere suit against pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, alleging that the company’s chemotherapy drug caused alopecia, or permanent hair loss.

While hair loss is a generally accepted side effect of chemotherapy treatment, most patients expect that when chemotherapy is over, their hair will be able to grow back in. However, certain chemo medications have been associated with permanent hair loss, or alopecia.

The plaintiff, Annie L., was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2007, and began six cycles of chemotherapy treatment with Taxotere. At the time of her treatment, Annie says neither she nor her oncologist were aware of any warnings about the potentially permanent nature of hair loss from the drug.

In fact, it wasn’t until 2016 that Annie became aware that her continued hair loss was a direct result of treatment with Taxotere, the Taxotere suit claims. Once she became aware of the connection, Annie filed a Taxotere suit against Sanofi.

Annie’s Taxotere suit was filed on multiple counts, including negligence, defective design and manufacturing, failure to warn, breach of express and implied warranties, fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment, violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, and intentional inflection of emotional distress, among several others.

Taxotere Background

Taxotere, otherwise known as docetaxel, is a kind of chemotherapy drug manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis. Taxotere was approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in 1996, and remains widely-used in chemo treatments today.

Taxotere fights against breast cancer by preventing cancer cells from growing, preventing the cancer spreading quickly. However, the same function that prevents the rapid growth of cancer cells may also prevent a patient’s hair from growing back after chemotherapy, causing alopecia.

Plaintiffs claim that Sanofi knew of these risks associated with Taxotere, yet continued to market their drug as equally safe and effective as other, similar drugs.

Hair Loss from Breast Cancer Chemotherapy

Taxotere lawsuits allege that, despite knowledge of their drug’s connection with permanent chemotherapy hair loss, Sanofi chose to conceal this information from patients and the wider medical community.

Some women who were treated with Taxotere chemo treatment for breast cancerhave even reported that they were told their hair would grow back after chemotherapy was finished, yet ended up either having major difficulties growing their hair back, taking an especially long time to grow, or even suffering from permanent chemotherapy-caused hair loss.

Filing a Taxotere Suit

If you or someone you love has experienced permanent hair loss after Taxotere chemo treatment for breast cancer, you may be able to gain some kind of compensation through a Taxotere lawsuit.

Filing a Taxotere suit cannot take away the pain and suffering a cancer patient endures, but it can help compensate for the financial expenses incurred by medical bills or even lost wages.

The Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-01975-KDE-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.