Drug Makers Need To Write Clearer, More Descriptive Drug Warnings Starting With Taxotere

Doctors can misled into thinking that a drug is safer and milder than it really is

Monday, March 18, 2019 - There is a fine line between trusting every word out of a doctor's mouth and taking personal responsibility for your own cancer treatment. Nine out of ten patients take their doctor's advice simply because the he or she has a lifetime of experience treating other patients with the same illness. The average person would be a fool to think they knew more than their oncologist. A doctor, after all is only human, and new and relatively untested drugs and medical devices come on the market every day that offer them more profit for prescribing or using them. Human nature is what it is and doctors will often go to the company that pays them the most money. After all, drugs must be FDA approved in order to make it to the market and the warning labels need to reflect the seriousness of the side effects that a drug carries and the responsibility for testing them lies at the footstep of the FDA. Or does it? Unfortunately, drug companies can be less than forthcoming when writing product warning labels that should convey the dangerous side effects a drug. Taxotere hair lawsuit attorneys are available for a free no obligation consultation with families and individuals to see if you qualify to file a claim.

Every cancer patient has a right to make an informed decision as to their cancer treatments and doctors have a responsibility to inform their patient of every possible side effect of the drugs they recommend. Drug manufacturers are hardly capable of producing an objective description of their product and warning labels can slant a drug's adverse side effects in favor of the company and give the mildest possible description of the side effects. Taxotere, the marketing name for the cancer drug docetaxel, is one of those drugs. Lawyers and marketers no doubt meet to draft a form of language that infers that the product may be dangerous, but couches the warning in a way that makes the patient feel that they would be silly to take it too seriously. You will never see clear, unambiguous language to describe the drug's side effect such as "Taxotere causes permanent, total, and irreversible body hair loss including all head hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, and all body hair including pubic hair." Instead, the company writes "Loss of hair occurs in most patients taking Taxotere (including the hair on your head, underarm hair, pubic hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes). Hair loss will begin after the first few treatments and varies from patient to patient. Once you have completed all your treatments, hair generally grows back," hardly the straightforward advice a patient needs to make a well-informed decision.

A more adequate warning to cancer patients deciding on a cancer drug would be to make it clear that there is a possibility that the patient will lose all of their body hair permanently and that it is impossible to tell who will be affected in such a way. The name of the drug, Taxotere, and the possibility of permanent total body hair loss must be made perfectly clear during the doctor/patient cancer consultation. Once this warning is given and out of the way, the doctor should tell the patient that he will respect her wishes and not be judgemental as to her view of hair loss. Some women may not care at all and think that permanent total hair loss is no big deal if it means staying alive to raise their children. The doctor now free to give his or her educated medical opinion but must leave the final decision to the patient.

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Onder, Shelton, O'Leary & Peterson, LLC is a St. Louis personal injury law firm handling serious injury and death claims across the country. Its mission is the pursuit of justice, no matter how complex the case or strenuous the effort. Onder, Shelton, O'Leary & Peterson has represented clients throughout the United States in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation such as Pradaxa, Lexapro and Yasmin/Yaz, where the firm's attorneys held significant leadership roles in the litigation, as well as Actos, DePuy, Risperdal and others. The Onder Law Firm has won more than $300 million in four talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits in St. Louis. Law firms throughout the nation often seek its experience and expertise on complex litigation.