A woman from Alabama alleges she got unexpected permanent baldness from breast cancer drug Taxotere.

Plaintiff Evelyn L. is suing Sanofi-Aventis and several of its associated business entities, all of whom are involved in the development, manufacture or marketing of chemotherapy drug Taxotere. Evelyn alleges these companies failed to adequately warn her that Taxotere treatment comes with a risk of permanent baldness from breast cancer drug Taxotere.

Evelyn says she was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2015. She then underwent cycles of chemotherapy using either Taxotere or a generic non-bioequivalent drug, she says. Later, she says she developed disfiguring permanent alopecia, or hair loss.

Evelyn now believes her alopecia was caused by Taxotere. As Evelyn and her oncologist planned her chemotherapy, neither of them was aware of the link between Taxotere and permanent hair loss, she claims. Had she been better informed about that risk, she would not have agreed to undergo chemotherapy with Taxotere.

Taxotere, also known as docetaxel, is a chemotherapy drug approved by the FDA as a treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer after other types of treatment have failed.

Evelyn claims Sanofi-Aventis and the other defendants have known for years about the risk of permanent baldness associated with Taxotere, yet have failed to alert patients and doctors to that risk.

She says that in 2005, a Sanofi-sponsored study called the GEICAM 9805 study concluded that over nine percent of the patients studied suffered persistent alopecia after being treated with Taxotere. These patients’ hair loss persisted for more than 10 years, and even longer in some of the worst cases.

Evelyn claims the clinical benefits of Taxotere are not worth the risk of permanent baldness. She challenges Sanofi-Aventis claims that Taxotere is more effective than other chemotherapy drugs. Post-market surveillance tells a different story, she claims.

She cites a study that show no significant difference between Taxotere and Taxol, another chemotherapy drug in the same class as Taxotere. Another study concluded Taxol was actually more effective than Taxotere.

Getting permanent baldness from breast cancer drug Taxotere can be especially traumatic for women. Female patients make up a significant number of Taxotere patients, as Taxotere is one of the most frequently prescribed chemotherapy drugs for breast cancer that has not responded well to other treatments.

Hundreds Claim Permanent Baldness from Breast Cancer Drug

Evelyn’s Taxotere lawsuit is part of the Taxotere multidistrict litigation, or MDL, that is now going on in a federal court in New Orleans. This MDL is a consolidation of hundreds of individual Taxotere lawsuits, all raising claims similar to Evelyn’s.

The MDL was created by the federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in October 2016, in anticipation of a large number of products liability claims over Taxotere.

Already the number of claims in the MDL has grown to over 700 claims alleging the plaintiffs suffered permanent baldness from breast cancer drug Taxotere.

The Taxotere MDL is In re: Taxotere (Docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2740 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Evelyn’s Taxotere Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-01799.