The US Food and Drug Administration approved docetaxel for the treatment of breast cancer in 1998. Known by the brand name Taxotere, the drug is effective against breast cancer but poses a high risk of permanent hair loss in a small but significant percentage of patients. Regrettably, some evidence suggests that the drug’s manufacturers were aware of this risk but withheld or failed to disclose it to the cancer treatment community.
Product liability lawyer Bart Bernard is currently investigating cases of breast cancer patients who consented to docetaxel chemotherapy without being fully informed of the risk of permanent hair loss. Bart is proud of the reputation that he has developed as The People’s Trial Lawyer™, and he and his team will fight to recover the compensation you deserve in a Taxotere lawsuit against manufacturers that hid the drug’s adverse side effects to profit from breast cancer treatments.
FDA Safety Warnings About Taxotere
The FDA approved Taxotere as a first-line treatment for metastatic breast cancer in 1998. The drug quickly became the treatment of choice. Oncologists treated millions of breast cancer patients with Taxotere, which generated billions of dollars in sales for Sanofi-Aventis, its manufacturer.
The first crack in Taxotere’s reputation became public in 2006 when an independent study suggested that more than 6% of the women who were treated with Taxotere suffered permanent hair loss. Other information revealed that Sanofi-Aventis was aware of the Taxotere hair loss risk at least as early as 2005. The FDA issued a warning letter to Sanofi in 2009 in which it accused the manufacturer of making false and misleading statements about the drug’s efficacy and safety. In 2015, the FDA updated Taxotere risk and safety warnings to state that reports of permanent cases of alopecia (i.e. permanent hair loss) have been linked to the drug.
The Taxotere Multi-District Litigation (“MDL”)
More than 12,000 individual lawsuits have been filed against Sanofi-Aventis and other docetaxel manufacturers alleging, among other matters, that:
- The manufacturers overstated the benefits of the drug while failing to warn of the known risk of permanent hair loss;
- Breast cancer sufferers did not have an opportunity to make an informed choice or to balance Taxotere’s purported benefits against its known risks;
- Those sufferers have experienced and will continue to suffer genuine harm and mental anguish due to their permanent hair loss and disfigurement caused by the drug.
Taxotere lawsuits across the country have been consolidated under the Taxotere MDL in the Eastern District of Louisiana. According to multidistrict litigation rules, a small number of “bellwether” Taxotere cases will be tried, and the results of those cases will guide the remaining cases.
Taxotere Settlements and Potential Trial Outcomes
Bart Bernard and his product liability legal team are providing free case reviews to patients who have suffered permanent hair loss and other adverse Taxotere side effects, including:
- Excessive or unusual weakness and fatigue
- Gastric and digestion irregularities
- High blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems
- Infections or allergic reactions
- Excess weight gain or loss
Our law firm encourages breast cancer patients to Click Bart First, Call Bart First™ to determine if you qualify for damages or settlements in a Taxotere lawsuit. Patients who received docetaxel before 2015 (when the FDA issued its permanent hair loss safety warning) may have an opportunity to recover damages from the drug’s manufacturers for their actual and future medical costs and hair restoration therapies in connection with Taxotere-related hair loss, and their pain and suffering from permanent disfigurement caused by the drug.
Call Bart Bernard for Information About Filing a Taxotere Lawsuit
Please call Bart Bernard if you consented to any docetaxel or Taxotere chemotherapy before 2015 as a treatment for breast cancer and you suffered any hair loss or other serious side effects. The lawyers at the Bart Bernard Personal Injury Law Firm provide professional and passionate legal representation for plaintiffs that have suffered injuries at the hands of corporations that hide the known risks of their pharmaceutical products from the public. We will provide a complimentary assessment of your case and give you recommendations on how best you can proceed to claim any compensation you deserve. Be Smart. Get Bart.™
Additional Resources:
- www.nih.gov: Persistent Major Alopecia Following Adjuvant Docetaxel for Breast Cancer: Incidents, Characteristics, and Prevention with Scalp Cooling. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6133184/
- www.uscourts.gov: MDL-2740 Taxotere (Docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation. http://www.laed.uscourts.gov/case-information/mdl-mass-class-action/taxotere
- www.recallreport.org: Taxotere Lawsuits. https://www.recallreport.org/financial-compensation/taxotere-lawsuits/
