One in eight women will receive the horrendous, life-crushing news that they have breast cancer. Almost 300,000 U.S. women every year are diagnosed with this frightening and awful disease. The biggest wish these women have is to beat cancer and get their life back. They want to go back to feeling and looking like the same person before their cancer battle. A majority of these women turn to the chemotherapy drug, Taxotere, to fight their cancer, however, no one tells them that being cancer-free with Taxotere comes with a hefty price.
Taxotere, manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis, is the most prescribed chemotherapy drug. Doctors inject the drug intravenously to prevent cancer cells from growing and dividing. The drug only needs to be administered once every three weeks, unlike paclitaxel, a drug in the same class, which is injected weekly. Fewer trips for treatments makes the medication more appealing even though other drugs like paclitaxel are just as effective.
After beating breast cancer, many women are devastated to learn that Taxotere has robbed them of looking like a breast cancer survivor. Studies are linking Taxotere to a disfiguring side effect: permanent hair loss (alopecia). Almost 10% of patients who took Taxotere suffered from alopecia for well over 10 years. To never grow hair again wrecks a person’s body image and brings crippling depression.
Patients expect hair loss during chemotherapy. It is a very common side effect in the fight against cancer. However, what is wrong is that these women were never warned that the loss of hair could be permanent when using Taxotere. Nowhere in the labeling are words “alopecia” or “permanent hair loss”. If these patients were informed of this devastating side effect, they may have chosen paclitaxel instead. These women never had the chance of making an informed choice. They are thrilled to be cancer-free but find themselves still looking like a cancer patient.
If you or a loved one experienced the devastating side effect of permanent hair loss or alopecia after taking Taxotere, contact the dedicated attorneys at The Michael Brady Lynch Firm, today at 877-513-9517.
