A woman has filed a Nexium PPI drug lawsuit claiming the medication caused her to develop PPI kidney disease.

Plaintiff Gladys W. says she was prescribed Nexium from 2011 to 2018. Nexium is a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), which suppresses the production of hydrochloric acid pumped into the stomach. Other PPI drugs include Dexilant, Nexium 24HR, Prevacid, Prevacid 24HR, Prilosec, Prilosec OTC and Protonix.

The complaint filed by Gladys joins an MDL against the manufacturers of the above-named PPI drugs. In the MDL, plaintiffs allege the regular and prolonged use of a PPI drug has resulted in kidney injuries, including acute interstitial nephritis, kidney injury, chronic kidney disease, and end-stage renal disease.

Gladys alleges Nexium caused her to suffer chronic PPI kidney disease.

AstraZeneca and Merck created PPI drug Nexium in a joint venture agreement. According to the PPI drug MDL, “PPI products are one of the most commercially successful groups of medication in the history of pharmaceutical sales in the United States.”

PPI drugs had sales of more than $50 billion between 2008 and 2013.

Many researchers have pointed to PPI drug marketing that tends to present the prescription as a means of allowing the patient to eat whatever he or she wants. If dietary changes were followed, approximately one-quarter of long-term users could quit taking the PPI drug with no new symptoms, according to researchers.

Some researchers believe p to 70 percent of PPI drugs are used inappropriately due to the length of time of treatment, or for symptoms that the FDA has neither tested nor approved the drugs for.

PPI Drug and PPI Kidney Disease Link

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study in January 2016 that indicated a patient who took a PPI drug was at a 20 to 50 percent increased risk of chronic PPI kidney disease.

The Journal of Nephrology published a study in April 2016 that indicated acute interstitial nephritis could become chronic kidney disease, which could then deteriorate to end state renal disease. When a patient reaches end stage renal disease, he or she must be placed on dialysis treatments until a kidney transplant becomes available.

That study’s analysis accounted for adjustments in a variety of areas, including age, sex, race, cigarette smoking, blood pressure, diabetes, medication use and history of cardiovascular disease. In the end, “each of these sensitivity analyses showed a consistent association between PPI use and a higher risk of CKD [chronic kidney disease].”

The PPI drug lawsuit suggests that withdrawal from a PPI drug causes a rebound acid hypersensitivity. When a PPI user stops taking a drug such as Nexium, the body reacts by increasing the acid secretion during the withdrawal. When the PPI user suffers worse acid reflux symptoms than prior to using the PPI, the patient is less apt to stay away from the medications and will feel dependent on the PPI drug to keep the acid at bay.

The PPI Drug Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-10167-CCC-MF and is part of the PPI Drug MDL, In re: Proton Pump Inhibitor Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2789, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Newark Division