An Antioch woman who sued the makers of the eczema drug Dupixent after her mother's 2024 death has seen her case folded into a growing federal litigation, with 38 actions now pending before a New Jersey court as of October 1. Chandra Richardson's mother, Cynthia Hyde, was active in Faith United Missionary Baptist Church in North Nashville before she died in October 2024, roughly a month after being diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma that her daughter's lawsuit says was linked to the drug.
Richardson filed what was reported as the first lawsuit over Dupixent, alleging her mother developed peripheral T-cell lymphoma after receiving Dupixent injections, according to AboutLawsuits.com. The outlet reports that Hyde was diagnosed with adult-onset atopic dermatitis in 2019 and began Dupixent treatment in May 2024. Richardson has said her mother began having health problems shortly after her first Dupixent injection, was initially told her cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, or CTCL, was treatable, and then saw her health deteriorate before she died the following month, according to reporting from WKRN News 2.
Dupixent is used to treat eczema and other conditions, and WKRN reports that federal lawsuits have now been filed over the drug by 40 people across the country, with more than a dozen additional cases also landing in state courts. Richardson filed her lawsuit about a year before WKRN's report published, and her case has since moved through the federal court system.
Case Moves From Tennessee Into Consolidated Proceedings
Court records reviewed by PACERMonitor show Richardson's case was transferred out of Tennessee to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey for coordinated or consolidated proceedings on June 4, 2026. Eight calendar days later, on June 12, the case became a member action in Dupixent products-liability multidistrict litigation known as MDL 3180, per the same court docket.
By October 1, 2026, 38 actions were pending in MDL 3180 in that New Jersey federal court, according to a litigation tracker from Marin & Murphy. The firm's update also notes that the court appointed Christopher A. Seeger as co-lead counsel for plaintiffs on October 22. Early case-management orders addressed administrative matters such as direct-filing protocols and service waivers. The same update states plainly that no court has ruled on the allegations and no settlement exists.
Attorney Points to Sanofi's Own Website
Laura Baughman, a partner at Weitz & Luxenberg, has said Sanofi's own website states that CTCL and eczema can often be confused, and that a doctor may mistake CTCL for eczema, per WKRN's reporting. Baughman also said literature indicates Dupixent can make CTCL progress rapidly, and noted that the lymphoma can lie dormant before symptoms emerge. Richardson and her clients want the drug makers to warn doctors to rule out CTCL before prescribing Dupixent, and Richardson has said she hopes her mother's story will warn others.
Separately, a 2024 research article in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology describes physician-reported Dupilumab-CTCL cases and what it called a significant signal in the 21- to 45-year age group, a population the article says is less likely to develop CTCL spontaneously. The excerpt available does not establish causation or speak to the overall strength of that evidence.
Drug Makers Stand By Dupixent's Safety Record
A Sanofi spokesperson said the company and Regeneron prioritize patient safety and stand by Dupixent's positive benefit-risk profile when the drug is used according to its prescribing information, per the statement relayed through WKRN's reporting. The spokesperson said Sanofi and Regeneron do not believe the scientific literature to date supports a causal association between Dupixent and CTCL, and said at least one regulatory authority has reached the same conclusion. The statement also noted that CTCL is not listed as an adverse reaction on Dupixent's prescribing information in the United States or any other region, and that the companies regularly review and assess safety data with regulatory authorities. The spokesperson said Sanofi and Regeneron will not comment further on the ongoing litigation at this time.
