Former FDA Head Kessler May Testify in Sanofi Taxotere Trial

Sanofi-Aventis US LLC failed to convince the Eastern District of Louisiana to block former FDA Commissioner David A. Kessler from testifying in an upcoming trial, brought by a woman who says the cancer drug Taxotere caused permanent hair loss.

Kessler’s testimony about the company’s regulatory obligations wouldn’t confuse a jury, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana said.

Barbara Earnest’s suit, set to begin trial Sept. 16, is slated to be the first trial of some 11,000 federal Taxotere suits in the multidistrict proceeding in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Plaintiffs allege Sanofi failed to warn that ...