A new Nexium lawsuit brought by a man from Illinois claims the heartburn medication caused him to need a kidney transplant.

In this Nexium lawsuit, Plaintiff Harry M. says he was prescribed Nexium sometime around 2006 and used it according to its directions. He later suffered kidney failure severe enough to require a kidney transplant, he says.

Harry is now suing AstraZeneca, the maker of Nexium, claiming he never would have used Nexium had the company properly informed him of the associated risks.

According to Harry’s Nexium lawsuit, proton pump inhibitors like Nexium are some of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S. He says over 15 million U.S. patients used prescription PPIs in 2013, at a cost of over $10 billion.

Nexium itself is the best-selling of all AstraZeneca’s drugs, and it is the third best-selling drug in the entire world, Harry says.

Chronic kidney disease is a gradual loss of kidney function. At more advanced stages, the loss of function leaves an excess of metabolic waste products in the blood.

At its most extreme, chronic kidney disease can lead to kidney failure severe enough to require dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Nexium Lawsuit Links Drug to Kidney Failure, Transplant

In the Nexium lawsuit, Harry claims that AstraZeneca has failed to adequately warn doctors and patients about the adverse effects of Nexium and has totally failed to provide any warning specific to chronic kidney disease.

In particular, AstraZeneca failed to warn about the cumulative effects of long-term use of Nexium, Harry claims. According to the Nexium lawsuit, recent studies have found a 20 to 50 percent increase in the risk of chronic kidney disease associated with the long-term use of PPIs like Nexium.

One such study showed that use of a PPI for any length of time, not just long-term use, increased that risk by 10 percent, he says.

Harry also cited another study that found a relationship between acute kidney injuries caused by PPIs and later development of chronic kidney disease.

According to Harry, the FDA has received hundreds of adverse event reports related to treatment with Nexium and other PPIs. He says that as early as 2004, AstraZeneca had received several reports of kidney injuries in patients who had taken Nexium.

Nevertheless, he claims, the company continued to take the position that Nexium did not pose any risk of kidney injury.

Harry says that alternatives to PPIs are available that do not create the same adverse effects. Another class of medications known as H2 blockers, for example, does not show the same association with CKD that PPIs show, he says.

Based on the availability of all these studies and aftermarket reports, Harry argues, defendant AstraZeneca knew or should have known about the risk of kidney failure associated with Nexium.

Nevertheless, the company continued to market Nexium without any warning about those associated risks, he says.

His Nexium lawsuit is raising claims based on theories of fraud, negligence, misrepresentation, breach of warranty, strict product liability, and infliction of emotional distress. Harry seeks an award of compensatory and punitive damages, costs of litigation and any other relief the court sees fit to provide.

The Nexium Lawsuit is Case No.3:16-cv-00493 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.