Taxotere Can Cause Permanent Hair Loss
Most cancer patients realize that hair loss is a common side effect of chemotherapy treatment. They also expect that their hair will grow back once they finish with their treatment. Unfortunately, that is not always the case with one chemotherapy drug commonly used to treat certain forms of breast, lung, prostate, and gastric cancer.
The drug manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis is currently at the center of 33 lawsuits claiming that its chemotherapy drug Taxotere, which is the brand name of the drug docetaxel, can cause permanent hair loss in female patients. The lawsuits claim that Sanofi-Aventis knew of the risk of permanent baldness and failed to notify doctors and patients or change the drug’s labeling until January 2016. One lawsuit alleges that the company’s own research shows that they knew of the risk as far back as 2005 and that the company was warned by the Food and Drug Administration in 2009 for “false and misleading statements concerning unsubstantiated claims of Taxotere’s superior efficacy.”
Drug manufacturers have a legal duty to warn consumers about any potential side effects of a medication. Companies that fail to provide warnings or that provide false or inadequate warnings can be sued and held financially accountable for any injuries resulting from the drug.
