Sanofi Stuck With Taxotere Retrial as 5th Cir. Refuses New Look

Sanofi U.S. Services Inc. failed to convince a Fifth Circuit panel to reconsider its ruling that evidentiary errors warrant a new trial in a woman’s suit alleging the breast cancer drug Taxotere caused permanent hair loss.

A federal jury in Louisiana in 2019 rejected Barbara Earnest’s arguments that Taxotere was responsible. Earnest’s Thancase was the first test trial in federal multidistrict proceedings.

She was prejudiced by improper “quasi-expert” testimony, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in February.

The company’s corporate witness went beyond the scope permitted for a lay witness, the appeals court said.

A medical ...