Patient Says Drug Companies Didn’t Warn of Nexium Prilosec Kidney Damage

A patient joins a multi-district litigation over proton pump inhibitor drugs, saying that drug companies didn’t warn of Nexium Prilosec kidney damage.

Plaintiff Linda J. of Ohio says that she took both Nexium and Prilosec OTC, made by AstraZeneca, Merck & Company Inc., and Procter & Gamble from 2008 to 2016.

She says that because of her use of the drugs, she suffered acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. She aims to hold the drug companies liable for creating and selling a dangerous product and aims to hold the companies accountable for her injuries. She seeks damages to compensate for her physical, emotional, and financial injuries caused by her use of the drugs and her development of Nexium Prilosec kidney damage.

Linda says that the drug companies knew or should have known that the drugs could cause kidney damage, yet they marketed and sold them nonetheless. According to Linda, she and other patients were not sufficiently warned of the risks associated with the drug and had she known that the drugs could cause kidney damage, she would not have agreed to take them and would have chosen a different treatment.

Linda’s lawsuit is part of a multidistrict litigation saying that a number of Proton Pump Inhibitors (or PPIs) can cause kidney damage. PPIs are a kind of drug commonly used to treat heartburn and ulcers and work by reducing the amount of acid produced by a patient’s stomach. Allegedly, the drugs can cause a range of serious side-effects.

Some studies reportedly link Nexium to stomach cancer, along with a range of kidney problems.

Linda and other patients in the Nexium Prilosec kidney damage multi-district litigation say that the drug companies who make Nexium specifically developed the drug in the 1990s to capitalize on a growing desire for PPIs in the medical field.

According to the Nexium Prilosec kidney damage multi-district litigation, in 2000, Nexium was approved to address conditions related to esophagitis and some donations related to ulcers. Allegedly, in 2003, AstraZeneca spent $260 million to market Nexium to Americans, which was “the largest amount spent on marketing a single brand of pharmaceutical to that date.”

Merck and Procter & Gamble entered into strategic alliances with AstraZeneca to market PPIs. Procter & Gamble specifically entered into a strategic alliance to market and promote Prilosec OTC.

Plaintiffs say that in this large push to market PPIs, the companies did not include a warning about the drugs’ link to some serious side effects, including acute interstitial nephritis, which can lead to serious side effects.

The warning that is currently on the drugs does not allegedly give sufficient information about the condition and its connection to kidney damage. Additionally, Linda and others say that the drug companies focused more on marketing the drugs than they did on informing the medical community on the risks of the drugs, including side effects like Nexium Prilosec kidney damage.

The Nexium Prilosec Kidney Damage Lawsuit is Case 2:18-cv-13562-CCC-MF, in the U.S. District Court for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.