MIDDLESEX, NJ- Einnews.com reports that there have been more than 350 lawsuits filed in relation to the breast cancer treatment drug Taxotere, the cases have been designated multi-county litigation. Some cases involving Taxotere had already begun at the time when the cases were merged to multicounty litigation.
The FDA approved Taxotere in 1996. The drug has been used since then, but it is sold without warning about the hair loss associated with this drug. While most people understand that many chemotherapy drugs cause the loss of a patient’s hair, the hair loss is considered temporary.
In 2015, the manufacturer of Taxotere, Sanofi Aventis, changed the product label to include the possibility of permanent hair loss. Court documents indicate that the company knew about the risk of permanent hair loss for years before it changed the label. A lawsuit sparked the company’s decision to add permanent hair loss to the label.
One study indicated that out of 1,060 patients who used the drug, about 9.2 percent lost their hair for a decade or more. Another 6.3 percent of women suffered from poor regrowth of their hair after taking Taxotere.
The plaintiffs also pointed to studies indicating that hair loss is a major concern for cancer patients. In fact, about 8 percent of women opt out of any form of treatment that would cause them to lose their hair.
Support groups have formed online connecting women who are now suffering from alopecia because of a side effect to Taxotere that they were not even warned of and were not able to prepare themselves for facing.
There are alternative drugs that do not carry the same risk of alopecia.
* http://www.einnews.com/pr_news/460058911/all-cases-involving-breast-cancer-drug-taxotere-designated-by-court-as-multicounty-litigation
**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/wellbeing/healthadvice/11841436/I-survived-cancer-but-drugs-left-me-with-permanent-alopecia.html
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