Breast cancer chemo hair loss is a common side effect in patients undergoing cancer treatment must face. But permanent alopecia is much rarer, and patients say the risk of permanent hair loss should be mentioned on drug warning labels.

For numerous Taxotere patients, chemotherapy treatment allegedly left them with hair loss that doesn’t resolve. The problem has spurred major legal action against drug manufacturer Sanofi Aventis.

One of the most recent Taxotere lawsuits was filed by a woman from Maryland, who says she had to undergo nearly a whole year of chemotherapy treatment. Plaintiff Gayle O. says she was prescribed Taxotere, or docetaxel chemotherapy soon after breast cancer diagnosis and started the treatment regimen on May 5, 2013.

According to the Taxotere lawsuit, Gayle had to undergo chemotherapy treatment until April 16, 2014, and had reportedly developed permanent breast cancer chemo hair loss. She says she developed permanent hair loss on the scalp as well as thinning hair from the back and sides. She says she also lost her eyebrows and eyelashes, and has been unable to regrow any of the hair she lost.

Gayle opted to file legal action after discovering other patients had also allegedly developed permanent breast cancer chemo hair loss, and that Sanofi may have known about the risk for years.

Overview of Taxotere Permanent Hair Loss Correlation

Taxotere was approved by the FDA in 1996 to be a treatment drug for breast cancer. It has since been approved to treat other variants of the disease.

Like other chemotherapy drugs, Taxotere can cause hair loss due to its treatment mechanism. Chemotherapy works by attacking rapidly reproducing cells, which makes hair follicles among the first groups of cells to be targeted. However, permanent alopecia is much more unusual. Patients who have undergone chemotherapy say they expected hair loss but did not expect it to be permanent.

There have been several studies indicating a link between Taxotere and permanent hair loss, including a study published in the 2011 American Journal of Dermatopathology where researchers found that Taxotere and other chemotherapy drugs increased the risk of alopecia, or permanent hair loss.

In addition to the studies, the FDA had also become aware of the growing concern surrounding the alleged correlation and eventually issued a label change for Taxotere. In December 2015, the FDA ordered that Taxotere’s warning label include notices that cases of permanent alopecia have been reported in conjunction with this medication.

However, it has been alleged that Sanofi Aventis knew about this risk years prior, based on the fact that European patients received the warning much earlier.

Gayle and many other patients say they were led to believe their hair would “generally” grow back, based on the Taxotere warning label. At all times relevant, Gayle says she and her oncologist had relied on the marketing materials and product information provided by the manufacturer, Sanofi Aventis.

Gayle’s Taxotere lawsuit is part of the growing Taxotere MDL No. 2740, where it will join other claims also alleging permanent alopecia from chemotherapy treatment. Gayle is seeking a multitude of damages in her Taxotere lawsuit including negligence and failure to warn. Her claim is Case No. 2:19-cv-01979-JTM-MBN, in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Louisiana.