A woman has filed a lawsuit against the makers of Taxotere, alleging she suffers permanent alopecia, the result of hair loss and chemo treatments.

Plaintiff Carla B. added her short-form complaint to an MDL currently going forth. She allegedly received Taxotere (docetaxel) from mid-March through early July of 2017.

Carla alleges she has experienced persistent hair loss on her scalp and a thinning of her hair throughout her scalp. She claims she suffered “significant thinning of the hair” after six months of stopping Taxotere treatments. No matter how she styles her hair, she says there are visible bald spots on her head. She says she has also has suffered from a permanent loss of her natural eyebrows, eyelashes and body hair.

Even though hair loss is an expected side effect of most chemotherapy drugs, permanent hair loss is not anticipated. During chemo treatments, the drugs interfere with the cellular division of fast-growing cells.

According to VeryWellHealth, the drugs can’t differentiate between cancer cells and normal cells, which means all rapidly growing cells experience interference in their routine growth cycles.

The hair follicles are among the fastest-growing areas of the body, and when they are interrupted, the result is hair loss.

Hair Loss and Chemo with Taxotere

Taxotere manufacturer Aventis-Sanofi allegedly warned women in other countries throughout the world that the chemo drug could cause permanent hair loss. Studies dating back to the 1990s indicate Aventis-Sanofi knew that at least nine percent of women who underwent a Taxotere regimen incurred permanent hair loss.

Taxotere is a chemotherapy drug that belongs to a class known as taxanes, which are derived from yew trees. According to the hair loss and chemo MDL, “taxanes inhibit the multiplication of cancer cells by over-stabilizing the structure of a cancer cell, which prevents the cell from breaking down and reorganizing for cell reproduction.”

Taxotere’s main competitor is another taxane called Taxol (paclitaxel).

When Taxotere was originally approved by the FDA, the strong taxane was only to be given when to patients when a prior chemotherapy failed. When Taxotere was approved for broader use, the drug’s maker began to promote Taxotere as a better, more effective chemotherapy drug than competitor Taxol.

Contrary to those claims by Sanofi-Aventis, the New England Journal of Medicine said in 2008 that Taxol was more effective when used in combination with other chemotherapy treatments, even though Taxotere was more toxic. The increased toxicity allegedly increases the possibility of irreversible hair loss.

Patients say that Sanofi-Aventis knew about the risk of permanent loss, yet assured patients that “hair generally grows back.” The first time a Taxotere label in the U.S. advised that permanent hair loss had been reported among the drug’s side effect finally appeared in December 2015.

The Taxotere MDL says that permanent hair loss in women means more than just the physical loss of hair. These women report feeling low self-esteem, poor body image, depression, anxiety, anger and isolation.

Current estimates are than more than 1,600 women treated with Taxotere for their breast cancer have suffered from permanent alopecia.

The Hair Loss and Chemo Lawsuit is Case No. 2:16-md-02740-KDE-MBN and is part of the Taxotere MDL, In re: Taxotere (docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2740, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.