Nexium is a popular proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drug used primarily to treat heartburn. Unfortunately, a link has been found between PPI drugs like Nexium and gastric cancer risk.

The connection involving Nexium and gastric cancer risk has patients and doctors around the world worried.

Basics of Nexium

Millions of Americans are prescribed PPI medications each year—one of the most popular of which is Nexium.

The PPI drug Nexium (esomeprazole magnesium) is manufactured by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. Nexium and other PPI drugs reduce the gastric acid in the stomach in order to help treat heartburn. Prilosec and Prevacid are other major PPI drugs. These medications are usually prescribed but are also available over-the-counter in some countries.

Nexium and other PPI drugs are undoubtedly popular, but they have unfortunately been linked with a variety of severe and even life-threatening side effects. These complications include Nexium stomach cancer, as well as kidney issues.

Some users of PPI medications have turned to litigation, alleging that the manufacturer was aware of serious side effects but did not adequately warn the public or the medical community about some of these risks.

Nexium and Gastric Cancer

Patients have reported suffering from a number of serious long-term side effects after using Nexium, including stomach cancer.

Stomach cancer only makes up 1.7 percent of cancer cases in the U.S. every year, so the overall risk is relatively small. But people taking Nexium may increase that risk—in some cases, up to eight times the normal risk.

A study conducted at the Centre for Translational Microbiome Research at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, found that stomach cancer risk was increased for those using PPIs to protect their stomach and had not previously reported stomach problems. The risk was highest for younger patients, under 40 years old—though this is at least in part due to the how uncommon these cancers are at that age.

Another study, which looked at tens of thousands of patients over the course of ten years, found that the use of PPI drugs was found to increase the risk of developing stomach cancer more than twice.

For patients who used PPIs daily, the risk was more than four times higher than for patients who only took the drug once a week. When patients used the drug for more than a year, the risk increased to five-fold, and after three or more years, to eight times the risk.

The study did not definitively prove a cause-and-effect connection between PPI drugs and the risk of stomach cancer, but it concluded that doctors should “exercise caution when prescribing long-term PPIs.”

In some cases, treatment of Nexium side effects simply involves stopping the medication. But for others, complications may be more permanent and life-threatening, such as those who develop Nexium gastric cancer.

Can You File a Nexium Gastric Cancer Lawsuit?

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with gastric cancer after taking Nexium, you may be able to file a lawsuit. While pursuing litigation cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by a cancer diagnosis, it can help to alleviate the financial burden caused by medical expenses and lost wages.