A couple has filed a lawsuit over kidney damage from Prilosec that the wife has suffered.

Penelope C. started taking Prilosec when her doctor at Kaiser Permanente prescribed it for her. She says she had no idea it could be causing kidney damage until Kaiser personnel advised her to stop taking Prilosec due to risks to her kidneys. Upon learning of this possibility, Penelope stopped taking the drug.

For Penelope, the damage had been done. She had taken Prilosec regularly for years, which resulted in kidney failure necessitating a kidney transplant.

According to statistics, Penelope will most likely need another kidney transplant in her lifetime or could die as a result of another organ being unavailable.

Possibilities of Kidney Damage from Prilosec Hidden

Notices of the risks of kidney damage from Prilosec has appeared in medical literature since 2006.

Even though doctors are not sure how Prilosec and other Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) damage the kidneys, they have theories. PPIs work by reducing hydrochloric acid in the stomach. They also reduce the magnesium levels in the body, which means perhaps the kidneys suffer from being denied enough of the mineral. Another theory is that the kidneys might sustain damage because the PPIs cause recurrent kidney inflammation repeatedly over time.

No matter how Prilosec causes kidney damage, there is no debate that it does.

The Prilosec lawsuit states that the drug’s makers Procter & Gamble Company and Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals LP – and Kaiser medical staff – had information that “made it clear that use of PPIs, including Prilosec, could lead to kidney damage and death, that such risks were dose dependent, and that such risks were amplified by continuous use of Prilosec and other PPIs.”

Penelope claims no one warned her of the dangers of kidney damage from Prilosec.

The drug’s label did indicate that “patients should ideally take Prilosec in a pattern that was substantially similar to 14 days of daily use followed by about 4 months of non-use,” says the complaint.

Still, none of the defendants told patients that if that dosing schedule was not followed, the risk of kidney injury increased substantially, the Prilosec lawsuit states.

Ideal Dosing Schedule Not Encouraged in Marketing Efforts

Procter & Gamble stands accused of encouraging “mistaken understandings in an active and intentional manner…”

In marketing campaigns to the FDA, medical staff and patients, Prilosec was portrayed as a “lifestyle medication that allowed patients to consume foods they otherwise would avoid, while de-emphasizing the important of not taking the drug continuously.”

At the same time, Prilosec makers are accused of “fostering medical publication(s) that minimized the perception among health care providers that it was important to avoid continuously taking Prilosec, and minimized the risks associated with Prilosec use.”

Their influence extended to donating $1 million to the American College of Gastroenterology for “’patient-oriented research,’ which was followed by at least one publication by a researcher associated with receiving the grant; the publication downplayed the risks of Prilosec, including risks of kidney damage, bacterial infection, contraindications, and other problems.”

These efforts to downplay the dangers of kidney damage from Prilosec led to doctors deviating from the 14 days on/4 months off ideal dosing. More doctors became comfortable with patients taking Prilosec and other PPIs on an ongoing basis, endangering patients such as Penelope.

The Kidney Damage from Prilosec Lawsuit is Case No. 2:17-cv-00409-MCE-EFB in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.