A recent Zantac carcinogen class action lawsuit claims that the drug manufacturers negligently allowed their products to become contaminated.

Plaintiff Dana Viola says that she has been taking Zantac since 2000 and regularly took the heartburn medication through 2016. She reportedly learned of the recent Zantac recalls through the news.

Although Zantac is now owned by Sanofi-Aventis, which has recalled the affected products, Viola brings claims against Pfizer who originally held the patent and controlled it through 2006. She argues that the original label designed and produced by Pfizer was the reason she began taking the drug and therefore the company should be held liable.

The Zantac class action lawsuit claims that Viola and other consumers relied on Pfizer’s representation that the heartburn medication is safe and free of defects. These representations allegedly influenced consumer purchasing decisions. Viola argues that she and other customers would not have purchased the products if she knew they were contaminated.

“While Defendant represented that its Zantac formulation was safe for use, Zantac contains dangerously high levels of NDMA, rendering the product dangerous and unfit for human consumption,” the Zantac class action argues.

Zantac Carcinogen Contamination

In September of 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that certain Zantac and generic ranitidine medications were contaminated with “low levels” of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). NDMA is an environmental contaminant that can be found in food and water, although it can also be produced through industrial processes. Unfortunately, NDMA is a probable human carcinogen.

“Patients should be able to trust that their medicines are as safe as they can be and that the benefits of taking them outweigh any risk to their health,” the FDA noted in their Zantac carcinogen announcement. “Although NDMA may cause harm in large amounts, the levels the FDA is finding in ranitidine from preliminary tests barely exceed amounts you might expect to find in common foods.”

Although the FDA initially said that the NDMA levels were low, the agency later released a statement that the contaminant levels were “unacceptable.”

Since the contamination was announced, several manufacturers have initiated recalls of the affected drugs. However, Viola’s recent Zantac class action claims that these recalls are not enough.

Viola argues that the contamination renders the medication “dangerous and unfit for human consumption.” She calls the Zantac products “worthless” due to their harmful levels of NDMA making them unfit for human consumption and argues that she and other consumers were injured by the full purchase price of the medications.

Additionally, Viola claims that the contamination could have been avoided if the medications were “properly synthesized”.

Viola seeks to represent a Class of consumers who purchased Zantac along with a subclass of the same consumers who purchased the medication in New Jersey.

The Zantac class action lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, statutory damages, punitive damages, restitution, interest, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

The Zantac Carcinogen Class Action Lawsuit is Viola v. Pfizer Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-00004, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.