Taxotere
In the mid-1990s, pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis wanted to break into the chemotherapy pharmaceutical market, so they made a more toxic, harsh chemotherapy medication, and released it for patient use. This medication is Taxotere (also called Docetaxel). The drug is a form of chemotherapy, administered intravenously through a person’s vein. Taxotere is known to treat forms of breast cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, head cancer, neck cancer, and prostate cancer. The medication helps eliminate the growth and spread of cancerous cells.
Risks & Side Effects of Taxotere:
Taxotere is different than other common chemotherapy medications because it can cause alopecia, which is a severe, permanent, and sometimes disfiguring type of hair loss. While it is commonplace for chemotherapy patients to sometimes lose their hair during the course of cancer treatment, that type hair loss is usually temporary, with hair beginning to grow back within a year of treatment being completed. In contrast, Taxotere patients may not have normal hair regrowth or any hair regrowth after concluding treatment.
Johnson Law Group is now accepting patients who have suffered permanent hair loss after being treated with the drug Taxotere.
Serious Taxotere Side Effects
- Permanent hair loss (head and body)
- Alopecia
- Loss of eyebrows
- Loss of eyelashes
- Loss of pubic hair
- Loss of facial hair
As Taxotere is used most commonly to treat breast cancer, most of the patients at risk of developing this type of permanent hair loss are women. Women in particular can find permanent hair loss to be extremely embarrassing, and such hair loss can severely impact the quality of a woman’s life.
Lawsuit Bases (What did Sanofi Do Wrong?)
Sanofi-Aventis, the manufacturer of Taxotere marketed and sold the drug without providing information on the serious side effects. Sanofi did not warn doctors or patients that Taxotere was actually a more harsh and toxic chemotherapy medication than others of equal or better efficacy that were available on the market (as it turns out, there were and are chemotherapy medications available that do not cause permanent hair loss, and are equally effective, or more effective at fighting cancer, than Taxotere). Also, Sanofi did not advise doctors or warn patients of the risk of permanent hair loss associated with Taxotere (found in some studies to be a risk of well over 50%). These failures to warn patients essentially robbed cancer patients of the ability to make fully informed decisions regarding their treatment regimens.
The attorneys at Johnson Law Group believe that if the makers of Taxotere gave warning of the dangerous and incurable side effects of the drug, a different medication would be prescribed. The negligence demonstrated by the pharmaceutical company is senseless and we believe you deserve to be compensated. Lawsuits are being filed today by our Taxotere attorneys to help you receive the money you deserve. We provide free confidential consultations. Call us today if you or a loved one took Taxotere and experienced permanent hair loss.