Update:
- On May 31, a judge in Delaware allowed more than 70,000 lawsuits filed against Zantac manufacturers GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim to proceed.
Zantac lawsuits overview:
- Who: Pfizer agreed to settle 10,000 lawsuits related to the heartburn drug Zantac.
- Why: The lawsuits claimed Zantac led to cancer.
- Where: The lawsuits were in U.S. state courts.
- How to get help: Consumers who were diagnosed with certain cancers after taking Zantac or ranitidine may qualify to participate in a free Zantac cancer lawsuit investigation.
(May 13, 2024)
Pfizer agreed to settle 10,000 lawsuits saying the heartburn drug Zantac causes cancer, Bloomberg News reports.
The settlement involves cases in U.S. state courts but does not completely resolve all Zantac lawsuits, Bloomberg writes. Financial details of the Pfizer Zantac settlements are not available.
“Pfizer continues to vigorously defend against Zantac lawsuits, which we believe are not supported by reliable science,” a Pfizer spokesperson told Fierce Pharma. “As we have stated previously, Pfizer has explored and will continue to explore opportunistic settlements of certain cases if appropriate and has settled certain cases.”
The Pfizer Zantac settlements come after Sanofi reached an undisclosed settlement in 4,000 personal injury claims related to Zantac in April.
Sanofi reportedly paid $100 million, approximately $25,000 per plaintiff, according to Bloomberg.
The Sanofi settlement involved the molecule ranitidine, which was found to degrade in some cases to a carcinogen called NDMA or N-Nitrosodimethylamine.
It included cases in California, New York and Connecticut but is separate from cases filed in Delaware. The Delaware cases involve 75,000 claims that the drug caused 10 different cancers.
Some Zantac cases consolidated, many had to be filed separately
Many of the Zantac cases were sent to a multidistrict litigation in the Southern District of Florida.
A federal judge in Florida dismissed several of the claims in December 2022, saying no scientists implicitly linked Zantac to cancer.
In February 2023, a federal judge in Florida ruled tens of thousands of consumers who were part of multi-plaintiff cases against Zantac manufacturers needed to file their claims separately after a court found no evidence Zantac’s active ingredient causes cancer.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked drugmakers to pull Zantac and its generic versions off the market in 2020 after NDMA was found in samples of the drug, Reuters reports.
Cases began to accumulate against Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim after the FDA’s recommendation, Reuters says. Pfizer did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Did you take Pfizer’s Zantac for heartburn? Let us know in the comments.
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23 thoughts onPfizer to settle 10K+ Zantac lawsuits, reports say
Add me on please!!!
In the early 2020 I attended to my doctor’s appointment and explain some of the symptoms that I had and he explained that I had GERD. He said I can take some stuff over the counter which I did, Zantac the only one that was used for gerd. For several, several months I had taken this product and started feeling really sick pain problems in my stomach. I then went to ER and thats where I found out I have cancer I have esophageal cancer. For 3 months for radiation only, I refused the chemo I need a salvage what was left of my cells to recover to fight. In September of 2021, I am cancer free! This over the counter drug are extremely dangerous. Please add me to the list.