AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP faces another Nexium Prilosec lawsuit filed by a woman alleging she suffered severe kidney injuries as a direct and proximate result of being prescribed the proton inhibiting drug.

Plaintiff Carolyn C. files the Nexium Prilosec lawsuit in New Jersey federal court joining a growing multidistrict litigation (MDL) filed against the company.

According to the Nexium Prilosec lawsuit Carolyn, a resident of North Carolina,  says that she used Nexium between 1999 and 2018. However, during her use of the medication she suffered extensive side effects including acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). She also says that she suffered from renal insufficiency.

Carolyn demands a trial by jury.

The Nexium Prilosec lawsuit was filed on multiple counts including strict product liability, design defect, failure to warn, negligence, negligence per se, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, negligent misrepresentation, fraud and fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, and violation of state consumer protection laws of the state of North Carolina.

Overview: Nexium Prilosec Complications

A number of patients like Carolyn have suffered severe and life-threatening kidney disease side effects from use of heartburn medications like Prilosec (omeprazole). Prilosec is known as a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drug, prescribed to treat as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and erosive esophagitis, or inflammation and damage to the esophagus that occurs as a result of stomach acid.

Having been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2003, the drug is manufactured by AstraZeneca, an Anglo-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company. Prilosec primarily works by decreasing stomach acid levels and as such reduces symptoms of persistent coughing, difficulty swallowing, and heartburn.

Common side effects reported with Prilosec include vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, dry mouth, rash, dizziness, and nervousness.

Other common PPIs include: Nexium (esomeprazole); Prevacid (Iansoprazole); Dexilant- formerly known as Kadipex (dexlansoprazole); Aciphex (rabeprazole); Protonix (pantoprazole); Zegerid (omeprazole, sodium bicarbonate); and Vimovo (esomeprazole and naproxen).

A recent study conducted in JAMA Internal Medicine found that PPI heartburn medications such as Prilosec are associated with kidney side effects and damage that includes CKD.

The study followed 10,482 participants for 13.9 years and compared those patients who took PPI’s to non-users of PPIs. The study also differentiated these patients from participants who were given a different heartburn medication known as H2 receptor antagonists (brand names Zantac, Pepcid, Tagamet, among others).

What the researchers discovered was that in patients who had taken PPI’s, there was a 20-50 percent increased risk for the development of chronic kidney disease. This is in comparison to participants who were given H2 receptor antagonists. However, there was no discovered link of chronic kidney disease in participants given H2 receptor antagonists.

The Nexium Prilosec Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-11938-CCC-MF, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Newark Division. The Nexium MDL is In re: Proton Pump Inhibitor Products Liability Litigation (No. II), MDL No. 2789, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Newark Division.