Hair-Loss Patients Lose In Taxotere MDL

Hair-Loss Patients Lose In Taxotere MDL

Introduction

On Thursday, Louisiana Federal Judge Jane Triche Milazzo rejected reconsidering lawsuits filed by two Taxotere patients who alleged drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis for failing to inform about permanent hair loss.

The judge passed the judgment after finding that their cases were filed too late under Louisiana law. The plaintiffs had made use of the class action's master complaint. According to the permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia (PCIA) parameter, hair loss is diagnosable six months after chemo ends. Last July, the judge ruled that at the six-month mark, a second yearlong clock for filing suits begins.

The judge considering the timeline's evidence reached the ruling, as the Louisiana law on statutes of limitations, called prescription law, allows a one-year “prescriptive period” in product liability disputes.

Multiple drug companies, along with Sanofi, are facing 10,000 cases in the multidistrict litigation. The lawsuits are consolidated under MDL No. 2740 before U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo.