An Ohio patient claims that he developed Nexium kidney disease after using heartburn medication normally.

Plaintiff Adrian W. says that he took the acid reduction medication Nexium between September 2010 and April 2016. Allegedly he developed acute kidney injury from his use of the drug. He aims to hold the drug’s makers, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, AstraZeneca LP, and Merck & Co. Inc. liable for his injuries.

According to Adrian, the companies knew or should have known that the drug could cause Nexium kidney disease but failed to warn him, which resulted in his injury. Adrian says that had he known that taking Nexium would cause him kidney injury, he would not have agreed to take the drug.

Adrian joins a growing multi-district litigation of patients who took Nexium and developed a range of severe side effects including kidney failure, kidney cancer and stomach cancer. The patients argue that the makers of heartburn drugs including the following exposed patients to serious injury:

• Dexilant
• Nexium
• Nexium 24HR
• Prevacid
• Prevacid 24HR
• Prilosec
• Prilosec OTC
• Protonix

The drugs listed above are a kind of medication know as Proton Pump Inhibitors, or PPIs. They help to treat several different gastric conditions by reducing the amount of acid in a patient’s stomach. 

PPIs are very common drugs — about 15 million Americans have been prescribed these drugs. While Prilosec, Nexium, and others are prescription drugs, PPI meds are also sold over-the-counter, so many more patients may have taken the drugs without a prescription.

However, they may cause more serious injury. Allegedly, research suggests that long term use is not safe because the longer a patient uses one of these drugs, the higher their likelihood is of developing Nexium kidney disease, or other serious conditions.

Research into Nexium kidney disease suggests that Nexium slowly decreases kidney performance, making them less and less able to filter out toxins and waste.

Allegedly, as kidney function decreases, the levels of metabolic waste that normally would be excreted in the urine can rise to dangerous levels. The National Kidney Foundation notes that if a patient’s kidneys cannot properly filter out waste, a patient may have to go on dialysis. In extreme cases, kidney failure is fatal. 

A July 2017 article in Science Daily notes that a study suggested that PPI users had a 50% higher risk of death from any cause than patients who took an alternative drug to treat gastrointestinal reflux and heartburn. 

Adrian and other patients claim that Nexium and other PPIs are marketed as safe and effective for long-term use, when really, they may not be.  Many patients claim that the drug makers concealed this information from patients and the medical community in order to maximize their drug sales. PPI patients claim that multiple studies have noted a possible link between PPI use and kidney problems, but patients were allegedly not warned of this research when the drugs were advertised to them.

The Nexium Kidney Disease Lawsuit is Case No. 2:19-cv-00493-CCC-MF, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Newark Division.