Taxotere® Permanent Hair Loss Lawsuit

Women battling breast cancer have enough to worry about.  The last thing we need is a multi-billion-dollar drug company hiding the disastrous side-effects of their products.  Unfortunately, that is exactly what Sanofi-Aventis is accused of doing to millions of women in the most vulnerable moments of their lives.

According to multiple scientific studies, the manufactures or distributors of Taxotere® knew that permanent hair loss, baldness, and alopecia were side effects of their product.  Sanofi-Aventis even warned women outside of the United States about these side effects while simultaneously hiding the truth from those of us battling breast cancer here in the U.S.

According to a study funded by Sanofi-Aventis, up to 10% of patients treated with Taxotere® suffer permanent hair loss.  Permanent alopecia associated with Taxotere® can affect the entire body, including eyebrows, eyelashes, and pubic hair.

Overview:

Taxotere® works by interfering with the growth and spread of cancer.  The drug (also known by its generic name, docetaxel) is used primarily to treat breast cancer, but is also prescribed for the patients with non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, stomach (gastric) cancer and head/neck cancer.

Taxotere® was first approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996.  By 2009, Sanofi-Aventis was making more than $3 billion in profit annually from this drug alone.

However, these enormous profits may have been the direct result of a calculated cover-up in which Sanofi-Aventis deceived thousands – possibly millions – of women suffering from breast cancer.  Failing to warn people of known dangers associated with consumer products is unlawful in the U.S. – protect your rights and protect future victims!

Lawsuits filed in Federal Court earlier this year allege that Sanofi-Aventis knew as early as 1999 that Taxotere® was causing permanent baldness and that the company was warning patients in Europe by 2005 and issued warnings throughout Canada by 2012.  Yet, Sanofi-Aventis waited until January 2016 to issue those warnings to patients in the U.S.

According to www.breastcancer.org, there are approximately 2.8 million women in the U.S. with a history of breast cancer.  Approximately 75% of those women were prescribed Taxotere® for their symptoms.

Scientific Evidence:

2008: The New England Journal of Medicine published a study which found no significant difference in survival rates between cancer patients treated with Taxotere and those taking Taxol (generic: pacitaxel), another chemotherapy drug that has not been linked to permanent alopecia.

2011: The American Journal of Dermatopathology published a study which found that chemotherapy containing taxanes – such as Taxotere® – could contribute to the development of permanent hair loss and baldness.

2012: The Annals of Oncology published a study which linked Taxotere® with an increased risk of permanent alopecia.

2013: The National Cancer Research Institute published a study which found permanent alopecia in 10-15% of patients who took Taxotere®.

Litigation Update:

At least 33 federal complaints pending in 16 states accuse Sanofi-Aventis of marketing Taxotere® as superior to other chemo treatments knowing that it could cause permanent hair loss.

On October 6, 2016, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) ordered all federal lawsuits alleging permanent hair loss from Taxotere® to be consolidated for pretrial litigation into a multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2740) in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

If you or a loved one has suffered permanent hair loss after taking Taxotere®, you may be entitled to a recovery for your injuries.  The talented and dedicated team at Marc J. Bern & Partners can help.

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