Washington, DCIt’s something that every cancer patient following chemotherapy comes to expect: temporary hair loss. While chemotherapy is an unpleasant but vitally necessary aspect of cancer treatment, patients can at least take solace in the expectation that, at the end of it all, their hair will grow back. However, as Taxotere Hair Loss Lawsuits are beginning to show, that’s not always the case.
Taxotere (docetaxel) is a cancer drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1996 for the treatment of breast cancer. The latter was the original indication. Taxotere has since been expanded to include head and neck cancer, gastric cancer, prostate cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. And while the drug is deemed to be effective, a troubling adverse reaction has been emerging in recent years…
Permanent hair loss, otherwise known as Taxotere alopecia. Plaintiffs in Taxotere lawsuits allege that while the Taxotere label has always suggested hair loss was possible, there was no suggestion that such docetaxel side effects could be permanent, or so it is alleged. Patients claim that had they known, they would have opted for the less potent but equally effective Taxol, which is described as not fostering permanent hair loss.
This is nothing new.
Taxotere plaintiff Hattie Carson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 and was prescribed chemotherapy with Taxotere. When her hair failed to grow back after six months, Carson was diagnosed with Taxotere alopecia - permanent hair loss.
Following the issuance of an FDA warning in December of last year, and a subsequent update to the Taxotere boxed warning with regard to the potential for permanent hair loss, Carson has launched a Taxotere side effects lawsuit in US District Court, Northern District of Ohio (Case No. 1:16-cv-00165). “Although alopecia is a common side effect related to chemotherapy drugs, permanent alopecia is not,” Carson’s lawsuit states. “Defendants, through its publications and marketing material, misled Plaintiff, the public, and the medical community to believe that, as with other chemotherapy drugs that cause alopecia, patients’ hair would grow back.”
Various lawsuits suggest that Taxotere manufacturer Sanofi’s own studies suggested three percent of cancer patients experienced persistent or permanent hair loss following treatment with docetaxel. However, an independent study in 2006 suggested that upwards of 6.3 percent of breast cancer patients succeeded in growing back less than 50 percent of their hair Although alopecia is a common side effect related to chemotherapy drugs, permanent alopecia is not. A subsequent study published by the National Cancer Research Institute in 2013 found permanent hair loss as a side effect in 10-15 percent of patients who took Taxotere.
It’s not just the United States that is affected. Canada is also seeing Taxotere lawsuits, after Health Canada was alerted to the issue in 2012. It’s unclear why Canada and Europe before that (in 2005) were alerted previously, but Sanofi-Aventis allegedly failed to notify the FDA until late winter in 2015.
And even though Canada was brought into the Taxotere alopecia loop four years ago, it was far too late for Cynthia MacGregor of Montreal, who told The Globe and Mail (3/4/10) in 2010 that “I had a normal head of hair and I am now completely bald.” MacGregor has been diagnosed with alopecia universalis, a loss of all body hair. She hasn’t a single hair on her body, not even eyebrows or eyelashes. When she goes out, people stare.
“It's devastating,” MacGregor told The Globe and Mail.
“With no hair, there is no going back to normal.”
MacGregor is one of three patients in Canada who stepped forward to report Taxotere alopecia to Health Canada. It led Health Canada to investigate. The Globe and Mail reported that some 10,000 Canadians - including some 6,500 patients with breast cancer - were treated with Taxotere in 2009. One oncologist noted in The Globe and Mail report that she gives her patients a choice of whether to undergo 12 cycles of Taxol with a “tiny” risk of permanent hair loss, versus four cycles of Taxotere and a heightened risk of permanent hair loss: fewer chemo treatments, but with a greater risk of Taxotere alopecia.
Various Taxotere plaintiffs suggest they were not given a choice. Had they known about docetaxel side effects including permanent hair loss, they would have opted for Taxol.
If you or a loved one have suffered losses in this case, please click the link below and your complaint will be sent to a drugs & medical lawyer who may evaluate your Taxotere Hair Loss claim at no cost or obligation.