A New Orleans jury last week handed Sanofi-Aventis its second defense victory in multidistrict litigation (MDL) over whether the drug company provided adequate warnings that the cancer drug Taxotere can cause permanent hair loss.
In the Nov. 18 verdict, jurors rejected the contention that a preponderance of evidence in the case involving plaintiff Elizabeth Kahn showed Sanofi failed to provide Kahn’s prescribing physician with information about alopecia risks associated with the breast cancer drug.
“After 90 minutes of deliberations, the jury found in favor of the manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis,” the law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, which represented Sanofi in the federal litigation, said in a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record. “The jury unanimously decided that Sanofi’s warning to the prescribing physician as to the risk of permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia was not inadequate.”
Defense attorney Hildy Sastre
The law firm also represented the Paris-based company during the first Taxotere bellwether – or test – case, which led to a defense verdict. The MDL involves plaintiffs who have accused the pharmaceutical company of fraudulently promoting the chemotherapy drug to doctors but failing to make adequate warnings about the product’s potential severe side effects.
“The jury’s decision is incredibly meaningful and reinforces that our client’s warning labels were adequate,” attorney Hildy Sastre, who tried the case for Sanofi in the Eastern District of Louisiana federal court, said. “Taxotere remains an important chemotherapy option, and we appreciate the jury’s finding.”
Pendley, Baudin & Coffin, which represented the plaintiff, contends that Taxotere causes permanent hair loss in 9.2% of women who have been treated with the drug. An appeal is expected in the Kahn case.
Kahn was treated with Taxotere in 2009, but her lawsuit stated that she only found out about the drug’s risk of permanent hair loss much later during an online search. She sought economic and non-economic damages, arguing that she had endured permanent disfigurement, emotional distress and mental anguish.