Taxotere lawsuits alleging permanent hair loss side effect continue to move forward in the federal litigation in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana. As per an order submitted on September 20, 2018, the Court permits the plaintiffs to amend their Master Complaint to add Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Actavis LLC f/k/a Actavis Inc. as additional defendants in the multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2740; In Re: Taxotere (Docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation).
Taxotere (docetaxel) is an FDA approved breast cancer drug, which was further proved to be effective in treating head and neck cancer, gastric cancer, prostate cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer. Chemotherapy drugs are likely to cause temporary hair loss in patients; however, plaintiffs claim Taxotere is more prone to cause permanent hair loss (alopecia) in comparison to other equally-effective alternatives. The multidistrict litigation involves about 9,300 cases pending over permanent hair loss and inadequate warning by the manufacturers. A series of bellwether trials are expected to begin in May 2019. Last month, about 300 lawsuits were centralized in Middlesex County Superior Court before a single judge. The case management conference for the multicounty litigation (MCL) has been scheduled for October 4, 2018.
