La. Federal Judge Allows Two Taxotere Hair Loss Cases to Proceed

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge has allowed two Taxotere permanent hair loss actions to proceed, ruling that the plaintiffs’ claims are timely and there are questions of fact as to whether the learned intermediary doctrine bars the negligence and failure-to-warn claims.

However, in the July 9 order, Judge Jane Milazzo of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana dismissed with prejudice two other actions, finding claims are time-barred because the plaintiffs should have investigated the cause of their permanent hair loss sooner.

Taxotere was designed as an increased potency taxane. Its initial patent was issued …