Permanent Hair Loss From Taxotere is a Real Possibility

Women that permanently lose their hair because of the toxicity of Taxotere were kept in the dark for years

Friday, September 1, 2017 - According to a recent article in US News and World Report magazine, the scariest thing about having cancer is not the potential of having a breast removed or a limb amputated but the prospect of losing one's hair even temporarily. The article references a 2010 survey that found that about 8 percent of women facing breast cancer chemotherapy "would forgo the treatment if it meant losing their hair." One can only guess at what that percentage would rise to if women cancer patients knew in advance that their hair loss might be permanent.

Anti-cancer chemotherapy drug docetaxel, marketed under the brand name Taxotere, is highly potent, toxic and effective in attacking the information centers of cancer cells preventing those cells from multiplying and spreading throughout the body. While patients were told of many of the side effects of Taxotere, one important fact omitted was that the drug causes a form of permanent hair loss called alopecia in approximately 10-15% of patients that are given it. The toxicity of the drug not only effectively kills cancer cells, it also permanently kills the healthy cells that grow hair causing a lifelong, permanent baldness.

Patients treated with Taxotere have been kept in the dark that one of the drug's side effect is permanent hair loss and were not given the opportunity to make an informed choice of anti-cancer drug treatments. Cancer physicians had previously used Taxol, a drug that was less toxic yet very effective in treating cancer and without the side effect of permanent hair loss. One Taxotere patient that has filed suit against Sanofi-Aventis, maker of the drug, that had she knew of the side effect of permanent hair loss she probably would not have chosen to treat her cancer with chemotherapy. Imagine the outrage when a permanent hair loss victim realizes that there were other safer and just as effective drugs available that they were not made aware of. Other Taxotere lawsuits allege that company whistleblowers, former Sanofi-Aventis employees, have exposed the company's illicit marketing strategies of paying illegal bonuses and cash kickbacks to doctors for using the drug. The company was cited for doing so in a 2009 Food and Drug Administration memo that refuted Sanofi's Taxotere effectiveness claims.

Taxotere patients facing permanent baldness are infuriated with not being informed of this life-changing side effect. It was not until December of 2015 that Taxotere prescription information was changed to include the statement, “in most cases normal hair growth should return. In some cases (frequency not known) permanent hair loss has been observed.” The American Journal of Dermatopathology studied cancer survivors who had developed permanent hair loss and found that 60% of them had been given Taxotere. Sanofi's own study found that 9.2% of their Taxotere patients were suffering from permanent hair loss for at least ten years. Since the drug's FDA approval in 1996, hundreds of thousands of women have been treated with Taxotere and thousands have developed permanent hair loss.

Turning a blind eye to their moral and legal responsibility to warn the public that Taxotere causes "permanent baldness" in a percentage of its patients, the company reaped hundreds of millions of dollars from the global sale of the anti-cancer drug. Sanofi-Aventis had ample financial incentives to keep their advanced knowledge of the drug's most harmful side effects hidden from the public.

More Recent Taxotere Hair Loss Lawsuit News:

• Taxotere Alopecia Warning Limited to the Fine Print | 5/17/2019
• Women that have to undergo chemotherapy for the first time face great anxiety | 5/6/2019
• Taxotere Patients Denied Their Right To Make An Informed Decision | 4/24/2019
• Patients Must Be Made Aware Of Taxotere's Three Major Side Effects | 4/18/2019
• Women Are Angry Over Sanofi Failing To Warn About The Possibility of Permanent Hair Loss | 4/12/2019
• Women Undergoing Cancer Treatments Are Taking Better Care of Themselves to Limit Hair Loss | 4/5/2019
• Taxotere Permanent Hair Loss Has Devastating Psychological Implications For Patients | 3/25/2019
• Taxotere Causes Alopecia Which Can Be Psychologically Damaging | 3/20/2019
• Drug Makers Need To Write Clearer, More Descriptive Drug Warnings Starting With Taxotere | 3/18/2019
• Taxotere Lawsuits May Teach Doctors a Valuable Lesson | 3/13/2019
• Taxotere Permanent Baldness Warning | 4/30/2018
• Taxotere Chemotherapy and Permanent Hair Loss | 4/26/2018
• Sanofi Sales Representatives Oversold Taxotere | 4/24/2018
• Scientific Study Confirms Permanent Taxotere Hair Loss | 4/12/2018
• Chemotherapy Drug Side Effects | 4/9/2018
• Cancer Doctors Fail to Warn Patients | 4/4/2018
• Taxotere's Psychological Side Effects | 3/13/2018
• Permanent Hair Loss Can Lead to Depression | 3/6/2018
• A Woman's Hair is Linked to Their Feminity | 2/23/2018
• Studies Indicate Taxotere Causes Permanent Hair Loss | 2/14/2018
• Taxotere's Ambiguous Hair Loss Warning | 2/5/2018
• Permanent Hair Loss Makes the Fear of Growing Old All Too Real | 12/29/2017
• Thousands of Women File Taxotere Hair Loss Lawsuits | 12/27/2017
• Taxotere Patients Psychological Trauma Result in Lawsuits Against Sanofi-Aventis | 12/22/2017
• Scientific Studies Point to Taxotere Hair Loss | 12/18/2017
• Cancer Patients Right to Make an Informed Decision | 12/13/2017
• How Women Think About Chemotherapy Hair Loss | 12/11/2017
• The Emotional Side Effects of Alopecia | 12/8/2017
• Taxotere May Cause Permanent Hair Loss | 12/4/2017
• Women Equate Baldness With Masculinity | 11/27/2017
• Symptoms of Permanent Hair Loss | 11/21/2017
• Taxotere's Warning May Have Come Too Late For Many | 11/15/2017
• Taxotere Benefits and Side Effects | 11/9/2017
• Women Were Not Given a Choice of Cancer Drugs | 11/1/2017
• The Impact of Permanent Hair Loss on Some Cancer Survivors | 9/29/2017
• The Emotional Side Effects of Permanent Hair Loss For Women Are All Too Real | 9/22/2017
• Taxotere is Highly Toxic and Causes Permanent Hair Loss | 9/15/2017
• 10-15 Percent of Cancer Patients Given Taxotere Develop Permanent Hair Loss | 9/8/2017
• Taxotere Permanent Hair Loss Lawsuits | 7/21/2017
• Permanent Hair Loss Caused by Taxotere | 6/26/2017
• Taxotere Warnings Now Include Permanent Hair Loss | 6/19/2017
• Taxotere Hair Loss Lawsuits Focus on Warning Label | 6/12/2017
• Permanent Hair Loss in Some Taxotere Users Delivers Secondary Blow to Cancer Patients | 6/5/2017

Lawyers for Taxotere Hair Loss Lawsuits

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.