Trial Lawyer » Prescription Drug Lawyer » Drug Lawsuit » Taxotere Hair Loss Lawsuit
Women who have suffered permanent hair loss after breast cancer chemotherapy treatments using the drug Taxotere may be qualified for a legal settlement gained via a Taxotere hair loss lawsuit. Contact the Willis Law Firm today for more information and a free case review.
The problem isn’t just that Taxotere, made by French company Sanofi (whose U.S. component is Sanofi-Aventis), can cause permanent baldness or hair loss. It’s also that the company failed to disclose such Taxotere side effects as permanent hair loss to potential users.
As a result, women were not able to make an informed decision about which cancer treatments to employ or shun, and many opted for Taxotere, which is said to have twice the strength — and added toxicity — of successful cancer treatment Taxol. As many as 9 per cent of such women, studies show, have suffered permanent hair loss as a result.
Yet while trying to compete with Bristol Myers Squibb’s Taxol and wrest away some of its market, Sanofi-Aventis did not create a superior product. Taxol is known to have just as much effectiveness in chemotherapy as Taxotere, if not more so, and Taxol, by contrast, does not cause permanent baldness.
In fact, Taxol isn’t the only alternative cancer treatment to Taxotere which doesn’t cause permanent hair loss. While many cancer treatments can cause temporary hair loss, only Taxotere is known to cause hair loss which can be permanent.
Women would have had many other choices if they’d known in advance that Taxotere, when administered intravenously during chemotherapy, could cause lasting hair loss. Instead, the drug’s prescribing information reassured potential users that “hair generally grows back.”
Finally, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning of Taxotere hair loss was issued in late 2015. Then there was no avoiding this disclosure by the manufacturer, which was compelled to include an FDA warning about permanent hair loss on Taxotere’s label.
Still, that FDA warning did not come in time to help thousands of women who’d received Taxotere breast cancer treatments and who then suffered permanent balding, also called permanent alopecia.
Such women have a legal right to claim payments from the French company for their injury losses, including payments for their pain, suffering and mental anguish. The Willis Law Firm can help victims to claim such payments by means of a hair loss lawsuit for Taxotere users.
Among hair loss lawsuits to date have been the following:
As for why chemotherapy causes hair loss — even if only temporary — that involves the nature of the treatment itself.
Chemotherapy drugs destroy rapidly-growing cells, which include cancer cells as well as healthy cells. Among the latter, hair follicles are among the body’s fastest-growing cells, dividing each one to three days. Thus, chemotherapy that kills cancer cells also can cause hair loss.
Yet most cancer treatments cause only temporary hair loss in patients, who later can grow back all of most of their hair. An exception is Taxotere, with active ingredient docetaxel.
Hair loss customarily begins within two weeks of initiating chemotherapy treatment. It continues during the treatment program, and after treatment ends, hair ordinarily begins to grow back within six weeks.
Suffering cancer is bad enough, but hair loss due to chemotherapy is physically disfiguring and adds emotional distress, affecting a woman’s self-esteem. Victims may be due compensation for their suffering, pain and medical expenses via a hair loss Taxotere lawsuit.
Though Taxotere was FDA approved in 1996, since then many cases of permanent hair loss have been documented. It’s believed that up to one in every 10 women who has Taxotere chemotherapy treatment suffers permanent — not temporary — hair loss.
Taxotere treatments also are used for patients suffering neck cancer, head cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, metastatic prostate cancer and advanced stomach cancer.
Among other possible Taxotere side effects are:
Many Taxotere studies have confirmed the risks of permanent hair loss and other Taxotere side effects.
An independent 2006 study by Dr. Scott Sedlacek of the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center found that more than 6% of breast cancer patients receiving Taxotere chemotherapy combined with Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide) and Adriamycin (docorubicin) grew back less than half of their hair after chemotherapy. (Taxotere can be administered in conjunction with other drugs.)
A 2012 study reported in the Annals of Oncology found that “severe and permanent female hair loss, especially scalp alopecia,” is one side effect of using docetaxel, the active ingredient in Taxotere, for breast cancer treatment.
Another 2012 study determined that new cancer treatments including Taxotere are connected to a significantly greater risk of side effects than older, standard cancer treatments.
The evidence is clear: Victims need to get a Taxotere hair loss lawsuit to protect their legal rights and gain payments for their injury losses. Notify the Willis Law Firm today for a free case evaluation, so that you can decide the best course of action for you. Let us help you seek the payments — and the justice — that you legally deserve.
