Civil lawsuits that allege the breast cancer drug Taxotere can cause permanent injuries to tear ducts will be consolidated in the Eastern District of Louisiana, a federal judicial panel has ordered.
The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) made the decision Feb. 1, concluding that it was in the best interest of all parties in the lawsuits against drugmaker Sanofi Aventis to try the cases before Judge Jane Triche Milazzo. Milazzo has tried similar cases involving Taxotere and allegations that the drug causes permanent hair loss.
Sanofi had argued against centralization or – if the judicial panel decided centralization was required – that the cases be consolidated in either the Eastern District of Louisiana or the Southern or Western District of Texas. Currently, there are only 13 cases in the pipeline involving eye injuries from Taxotere, but plaintiffs’ attorneys report more than 100 potential claimants in the future, according to the JPML.
“We are pleased that the JPML decided to consolidate these cases before Judge Milazzo,” a Sanofi spokesperson told the Louisiana Record in an email. “We feel she is familiar with the product through her management of the hair-loss cases.”
The company also sees consolidating the cases in Louisiana as a way to efficiently allocate judicial resources as the litigation advances.
“We feel judicial economies have been met by having Judge Milazzo manage both litigations involving the same product,” the spokesperson said.
According to the Texas-based law firm Hotze Runkle, a serious side-effect of Taxotere is a permanent eye condition called canalicular stenosis, which can cause eye watering, blurred vision, light sensitivity, swelling of the eyelids and vision loss.
The Taxotere lawsuits also argue that the drug’s warning label was inadequate to fully inform patients about the potential side-effects of the drug.
“We find that the actions before us involve common questions of fact, and that centralization in the Eastern District of Louisiana will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation,” the JPML said in its decision. “... Judge Milazzo … is in a unique position to guide this litigation to an efficient resolution.”
Juries in two recent Taxotere lawsuits alleging permanent hair loss sided with Sanofi, concluding the company was not liable for the patients’ injuries.