Taxotere Lawsuits Filed by More Than 850 Women Over Hair Loss Problems

According to a recent court filing, there are already more than 850 women who have filed a lawsuit in a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) established for claims over failure to warn about permanent hair loss problems from Taxotere, a controversial breast cancer drug that plaintiffs claim is no more effective than other treatments that do not carry the same risks.

Since October 2016, all federal Taxotere lawsuits have been centralized for pretrial proceedings before U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt in the Eastern District of Louisiana, to reduce duplicative discovery into common issues in the litigation, avoid conflicting rulings from different courts and to serve the convenience of the parties, witnesses and the courts.

Each of the cases raise similar questions of fact and law, alleging that Sanofi-Aventis knew about the link between Taxotere and permanent hair loss, yet continued to actively promote their chemotherapy drug, even though alternative breast cancer treatments are equally effective and do not cause long-term hair problems.

Although alopecia hair loss is a known and accepted side effect of chemotherapy, plaintiffs maintain that the drug maker provided false and misleading information that suggested hair regrows following Taxotere treatment, which is not the case for many women.

According to a joint status report (PDF) filed by parties involved in the litigation on March 17, there are already at least 857 Taxotere cases pending in the MDL before Judge Engelhardt, with additional cases proceeding in state court in California, Missouri and Delaware.

As Taxotere lawyers continue to review and file claims on behalf of women over the coming months and years, it is expected that several thousand complaints will be included in the MDL.

The parties are next scheduled to meet with Judge Engelhardt for a status conference on May 12.