A Pennsylvania patient has joined a growing multi-district litigation claiming that the chemotherapy drug Taxotere caused her permanent hair loss.

Plaintiff Cynthia K. argues that the drug’s makers, Sanofi US Services Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis US LLC, knew that the drug could cause permanent hair loss but failed to warn her of the possibility of permanent Taxotere hair loss.

BreastCancer.org notes that Taxotere is usually only used after other chemotherapy treatments have failed, but many patients rely on it for their treatment. 

Cynthia says that she used Taxotere for her chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer between September 2015 and December 2015. She says that when she agreed to take the drug, she was aware that it could cause hair loss, but believed that the hair loss would reverse after treatment stopped, as is the case with many chemotherapy drugs.

However, Cynthia claims that her Taxotere hair loss was permanent. Allegedly, Sanofi US Services Inc. knew that the drug could cause permanent hair loss but failed to tell her. She says that had she known that the hair loss she experienced from Taxotere would be permanent, she would not have agreed to use Taxotere at all.

According to Cynthia, she experienced widespread hair loss, including severe bald spots throughout her scalp. She says that she also lost her eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair on other parts of her body. Cynthia says that she was physically injured by her permanent hair loss, and claims that she also suffered emotional injuries due to her hair loss and the effect it had on her confidence and perception of herself.

Patients like Cynthia say that permanent hair loss is traumatizing because the hair loss inhibits their ability to return to normal life after their cancer treatments. Allegedly, patients who suffered from Taxotere hair loss are “stigmatized with the universal cancer signifier — baldness — long after they underwent cancer treatment, and their hair loss acts as a permanent reminder that they are cancer victims.”

Cynthia aims to hold Taxotere’s makers liable for her Taxotere hair loss injuries, including Sanofi US Services Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis US LLC, as well as other companies that worked with Sanofi on the drug.

Cynthia joins a growing multi-district litigation of Taxotere patients who say that the drug caused their permanent hair loss. The patients claim that the drug companies misrepresented Taxotere as a relatively safe and effective drug. Allegedly, the makers did advertise the drug could cause hair loss, but misrepresented the hair loss as temporary, as is common with most chemotherapy drugs.

Allegedly, the drug companies hid the side effect not only from patients, but from the FDA. The patients argue that some of the companies still do not advertise the side effect to users and medical professionals.

Drug Safety News notes that the permanent Taxotere hair loss risk warnings were published ten years earlier in Europe than they were in the U.S. 

Patients argue that the warnings about the permanent Taxotere hair loss risk have been insufficient for many years and continue to be so. Allegedly, a note under the drug’s “Patient Counseling Information” label notes that cases of permanent hair loss have been reported, but information about permanent hair loss is not included in the drug’s labels on “Warnings and Precautions” or “Adverse Reactions.” Patients argue that the information should be widely available so patients can make an informed choice about their chemotherapy treatments.

The Taxotere Permanent Hair Loss Class Action Lawsuit is Case No. 2:16-md-KDE-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.