Zantac Lawsuit – Heartburn Cancer Litigation | Ranitidine Cancer Lawsuit

For many years, Zantac was one of the most popular medications in America. The heartburn medication set numerous sales records and was one of the first things that people associated with heartburn relief. Now, you will not find Zantac on store shelves. The drug has been pulled from the market as studies have shown that it contains a substance that is a known carcinogen. While the extent of the problem is not yet known, the maker of the drug now may possibly face staggering legal liability due to the sheer number of people who have taken Zantac over the years. The first heartburn cancer lawsuits in the consolidated product liability case have been filed. By the time that the Ranitidine Cancer Lawsuits concludes years from now, this could grow to one of the larger mass tort actions in U.S. history.

Update- May 26, 2023-  Zantac class action dismissed in Canada.“The Supreme Court of British Colombia (B.C.) ruled on May 12 that a Vancouver man’s lawsuit against former Zantac manufacturers, including Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, lacked the evidence necessary to convince the court that ranitidine, the active ingredient in Zantac, showed any causation to cancer.”Medtruth

December 21, 2o22- “A federal judge dealt a blow to plaintiffs after dismissing thousands of Zantac cancer lawsuits in multidistrict litigation in Florida. In a 300-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg found plaintiff’s experts didn’t use reliable methodologies to connect Zantac to cancer.” Drug watch

The ruling absolves pharmaceutical giants Pfizer, Sanofi, GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim of some 50,000 claims, according to FiercePharma. This includes class-action claims and individual Zantac lawsuits among the 2,056 pending actions in multidistrict litigation in the Southern District of Florida.

8-17-22- “ The plaintiff in the first lawsuit over the heartburn drug Zantac scheduled to go to trial has agreed to drop his case, according to his attorney and drugmakers named as defendants. Tuesday’s news came days after shares of GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L), Sanofi SA (SASY.PA), Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Haleon Plc (HLN.L) were hit by mounting investor concern about thousands of lawsuits claiming the drug, which U.S. regulators pulled from the market in 2020, causes cancer.” Reuters

5-11-2021-  “French drug maker Sanofi destroyed internal emails tied to a 2019 recall of the heartburn medication Zantac, according to lawyers for more than 70,000 former patients who sued the company in the U.S. The deleted emails, including those of Michael Bailey, the head of regulatory affairs for the company’s U.S. Consumer Healthcare division, will make it more difficult for consumers to show Sanofi and other drug makers allowed a suspected carcinogen to taint Zantac, an over-the-counter medication, according to a May 7 court filing. The mishandling of emails has “resulted in the delay and/or postponement of many key Sanofi depositions,” lawyers for former patients said. They asked a judge for more time to prepare for their first trials, which are set to start next year. Sanofi officials began an internal probe about the email destruction and are scheduled to deliver a report to a judge overseeing Zantac cases in August, the filings show.” Bloomberg

12-26-2020- “The DOJ is investigating the manufacturers to see if they violated the False Claims Act (FCA), which was enacted in 1863 in response to defense contractor fraud during the American Civil War. It provided that any person who knowingly submitted false claims to the government was liable for double the government’s damages plus a penalty of $2,000 for each false claim. Since then, the FCA has been amended several times, and now provides that violators are liable for treble damages plus a penalty that is linked to inflation. The DOJ is investigating specifically whether Zantac manufacturers failed to disclose to the public or to healthcare providers that Zantac and generic ranitidine medications could contain NDMA. Plaintiffs who have filed lawsuits against these companies allege that they failed to warn about the risks and that they knew or should have known that ranitidine could contain the carcinogen decades before the FDA called for a product recall.” New York Legal Examiner

11-9-2020- “Veterans are filing Zantac lawsuits claiming the drug causes cancer, and the number of lawsuits is increasing, according to lawyers.  The lawsuits claim drugmakers knew the active ingredient in Zantac, ranitidine, had the potential to form a toxic chemical called N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in a person’s stomach but didn’t warn the public. NDMA is known to cause cancer in animals and may cause cancer in humans.” Consumer notice

10-29-2020- “The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating two Zantac manufacturers. The DOJ wants to determine whether the drug makers violated federal law while selling Zantac. The investigation will attempt to answer several questions:

• When did manufacturers learn about NDMA in Zantac?
• When did manufacturers learn Zantac’s active ingredient can break down in the stomach, forming additional NDMA?
• Did manufacturers conceal the cancer risk associated with Zantac?” Consumer Safety

9/24/2020- “District Judge Robin Rosenberg has appointed a team of 26 lawyers to lead Zantac lawsuits after conducting a two-day virtual leadership interview involving more than 60 lawyers…In describing the selection process, Judge Rosenberg emphasized that the court intended to create a diverse leadership team to represent the plaintiffs’ diversity and give an opportunity to new and small firms, including younger or lesser experienced lawyers. The chosen few are assigned to lead about 230 Zantac lawsuits. The team comprises co-lead counsels, the plaintiff’s liaison counsel, the plaintiff’s steering committee, and a leadership development committee. The court hopes that the team will count on its diversity as the case goes forward.” South Florida News

7/5/2020- “The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) consolidated these cases in February 2020. Together, the cases form MDL 2924. Judge Robin L. Rosenberg scheduled the initial MDL conference for March 20, 2020. The court recently made adjustments to its schedule due to COVID-19. First, the court canceled the initial conference. Second, the court expressed interest in rescheduling the conference when all participants could attend. But social distancing measures may prevent that.” Consumer Safety

Basic information on Zantac consolidated MDL lawsuit

• MDL #2924
• IN RE: Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation
• Presiding Justice: Rosenberg, Robin L.
• United States District Court, Southern District of Florida
• 1/19/21- There were 560 pending Zantac lawsuits in the MDL
• As of 8/17/20 there are 299 Zantac lawsuits pending in this MDL
• As of 9/15/2020 there are 524 Ranitidine Cancer Lawsuits pending in this MDL
• “This matter concerns the heartburn medication Zantac. More specifically, this matter concerns the ranitidine molecule—the active ingredient of Zantac. The Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation formed this MDL (number 2924) on February 6, 2020.”
• Read pretrial order #1 

 Cancer risk linked to widely used  heartburn drug Zantac

“In the Summer and Fall of 2019, the FDA investigated the medication after it was found to contain high concentrations of NDMA, a chemical that is known to potentially cause cancer.  Over time, the ingredients in Zantac (generic: ranitidine) appeared to break down and form NDMA, particularly in high temperatures or in long-term storage.  In September 2019, the FDA issued an alert warning the public about the connection, and in April 2020 the FDA demanded removal of the medication after determining that NDMA levels can reach dangerous levels under even normal storage conditions.” Legal examiner

“Zantac was introduced in the 1980s and, along with its generic version, has been one of the most popular heartburn medications for over 30 years.  In 2004, the FDA approved certain versions of Zantac for over-the-counter distribution in the US.  Tens of millions of people take the medication on a regular basis.” Id.

What Is Zantac?

Zantac is a drug that is intended to treat heartburn, stomach ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Zantac is one of the commercial names for the drug ranitidine. In actuality, Zantac is one of many different drugs in this class, but it is the most well-known medication and has become associated with the type of heartburn drug much in the same way that people associated Coke with cola.

Ranitidine cancer lawsuit

Ranitidine acts as an inhibitor. Gastric parietal cells have histamine receptors that are involved in the production of stomach acid. By inhibiting them, the amount of stomach acid is decreased, lessening the heartburn and ulcers that it causes. Ranitidine was originally developed by GlaxoSmithKline. Now, the drug is sold in the U.S. by Sanofi. The drug has always posted among the highest sales numbers of all medications. By 1990, the drug was doing over $2 billion in sales. It soon faced competition from drugs such as Prilosec and Nexium, but still maintained its place near the top of the market.

What Is the Problem with Zantac?

In order to understand the problem with Zantac, it is necessary to take a step back earlier to 2018, when contamination problems with other drugs began to be detected. During that time, testing revealed that the popular class of blood pressure medications called valsartan contained a possibly harmful substance that was introduced during the manufacturing process.

The specific contaminant is something that is called NDMA. It is a substance that can be found in certain processed foods and even groundwater. Its scientific name is dimethylnitrosamine and it is an organic compound. The problem with NDMA is that it is a known carcinogen in laboratory animals. This does not mean that all human beings who ingest any amount of NDMA will develop cancer. However, the government determines the safe amount of NDMA that a human can consume without being at risk for cancer.

Zantac Timeline

• 1983- “Glaxo Holdings Ltd, now a part of GlaxoSmithKline PLC, receives its first U.S. FDA approval for Zantac as a short-term treatment of a common form of ulcers. The drug was already approved in 31 different countries.” Reuters
• 1988-  Zantac has over 1 billion in annual sales and is the best selling drug in the world.
• 1997-  Glaxo’s rantidine patent in The United States expires. Glaxo’s competitors release generic drugs,
• 2004-2017-  “Pfizer receives FDA approval for an over-the-counter version of Zantac in the U.S. The brand later moved in various transactions to Johnson & Johnson, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi SA, which currently sells Zantac in the U.S. Other companies also launch generic over-the-counter competitors.” Id.
• July 2018- “European and American regulators recall blood pressure drug valsartan made by China’s Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceuticals after finding the cancer causing impurity N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in samples of drugs containing ranitidine. The regulators have since found the impurities in a wide number of the drugs in the same class, called angiotensin II receptor blockers.” Id.
• Sept. 13, 2019-  Untied States regulators and E.U regulators begin investigating safety of ranitidine.
• Sept. 18, 2019- “Novartis AG’s Sandoz Unit, which makes generic drugs, says it is halting the distribution of its versions of Zantac in all markets, while Canada requests drugmakers selling ranitidine to stop distribution.” Id.
• Sept. 28, 2019- “Drugstore chain CVS Health Corp says it will stop selling Zantac and its own generic ranitidine products. Walmart Inc, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Rite Aid Corp have also moved to remove the drugs off their shelves.
• Oct 2, 2019-“FDA says it has found “unacceptable levels” of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in samples of drugs containing ranitidine in its testing.” Id.
• Oct 8, 2019- “GlaxoSmithKline, the original maker of the drug, recalls prescription-only Zantac medicines in all its markets as a precaution.” Id.
• Oct 18, 2019 “Sanofi recalls over-the-counter Zantac in the United States and Canada, a day after the UK unit of Teva Pharmaceutical, the world’s largest generic drug maker, recalled some batches of ranitidine.” Id.

Zantac was tested and was found to contain NDMA

In Valsartan’s case, the NDMA content was high enough that taking the highest dose of the medication for four years straight would have resulted in one additional case of cancer for every 8,000 patients. This led to the drug being pulled from the market. After the issues with valsartan, additional tests were conducted of other drugs now that NDMA was a concern. Zantac was tested and was found to contain NDMA. At first, there was little concern because the amount of NDMA in the drug was not considered to be dangerous. However, this began to change as more became known.

Manufacturers began to pull their products from the market

The FDA released its initial communication about Zantac in September 2019. At first, the FDA said that the amount of NDMA in Zantac was only a little more than was contained in common foods. At the time, the FDA only said that it was evaluating the levels of NDMA and did not recommend any further action, including any product recalls. However, the companies who sell ranitidine based medicines soon began to do the work on their own to remove these products from the marketplace. Manufacturers began to pull their products from the market one by one. This included Zantac, which became one of many medications to become the subject of a voluntary recall. Not only did the drug makers remove their products from the market, but large pharmacy chains also removed these drugs from the shelves.

FDA continued to test the different ranitidine products

The FDA continued to test the different ranitidine products. The regulator still believed that the levels of NDMA in these drugs were not any more than one would ingest by eating smoked meat. However, the testing results for some of these drugs revealed NDMA levels up to seven times the recommended daily limit. By April 2020, the situation began to become more readily apparent to the FDA. At the time, the regulator issued a statement on April 1 that requested the removal of all over-the-counter ranitidine drugs from the market. The FDA requested that the manufacturers who had not already taken ranitidine products off the market do so now and that stores stop selling them. By this time, the FDA had concluded that the levels of NDMA in Zantac were unsafe and that consumers should no longer take the medicine.

Unsafe levels of NDMA

Researchers are still determining how Zantac became contaminated with potentially unsafe levels of NDMA. The initial theory leads to a different conclusion than other types of pharmaceutical NDMA contamination. In the case of valsartan, the contaminant most likely was introduced as an impurity during the manufacturing process. However, the initial theory about ranitidine centers on the properties of the substance itself. One theory is that ranitidine itself is an unstable substance that can itself develop into NDMA over time. In other words, ranitidine itself makes the NDMA.

NDMA developed when it was stored

One lab tested Zantac and found that NDMA developed when it was stored. The problem became even worse when Zantac was exposed to high heat.  This would generally happen when the product was being shipped or when it was in storage.  In other words, when the product leaves the factory, it does not contain unsafe levels of NDMA. Instead, this happens through a reaction over time. The older a box of Zantac is, the higher the levels of NDMA will be contained in the product.  This is a theory that the FDA accepted in its April 1 recall letter.

The Zantac Lawsuits

Given the millions of people who have taken Zantac over the past four decades, it is likely that there will be thousands of lawsuits relating to the contamination of NDMA. Even if the incidents of cancer occur at the same rate as they are estimated due to valsartan exposure, this would still amount to several thousand people developing cancer due to taking Zantac.

The first lawsuits against Sanofi are moving forward in Florida. The plaintiffs have filed suit against both Sanofi as well as Boehringer who owned the U.S. rights to the drug before Sanofi. Of course, since these lawsuits have only recently been filed, they will take years to move through the legal system, and it will take some time to know whether the makers of the drug will be held liable.

Cancer after taking Zantac

In February 2020, 15 lawsuits were transferred to federal court in South Florida. This is the beginning of what may become large multi-district litigation and can form the basis for the coming litigation relating to Zantac. Now that the case has been given multi-district status, there is the possibility that many additional cases will be joined to the lawsuit. Multi-district status facilitates large-scale litigation by making all discovery in the case common. In actuality, there are two different types of lawsuits against the makers of the drug. In addition to the individual lawsuits by plaintiffs who claim that they got cancer after taking Zantac, there is also a class-action lawsuit on behalf of consumers who argue that they would have never bought the drug had the warning label alerted the public to the NDMA content.

Carcinogen was connected to ranitidine

The lawsuits claim in part that the makers of Zantac knew all along that the product had the capability to become contaminated with NDMA.  According to the plaintiffs, there were numerous scientific studies in the years before the FDA first alerted the public about NDMA that showed that the carcinogen was connected to ranitidine.  However, the defendants did not add any warnings about the presence of NDMA to the product’s warning label. The lawsuits accuse the companies of concealing the information from the public.

In addition, the lawsuits also argue that the design of Zantac was defective. A product that was safely designed would not become contaminated during storage. According to the plaintiffs, the use of a substance that is so inherently unstable that it degenerates into a carcinogen is an inherently dangerous design, and the companies could have developed a stomach medication that relied on another compound.

Types of Cancer Connected to NDMA

NDMA has the potential to cause cancerous tumors on the digestive system. In addition, there is also the risk of liver or kidney cancer. One of the first lawsuits that were filed was brought by a plaintiff who claims that Zantac caused prostate cancer, In addition, the product has also been connected to possible esophageal and throat cancer.

Hurdles that plaintiffs may face

Since news of the FDA’s findings only broke in September 2019, there is still much to be learned about the types of cancers that can specifically be tied to Zantac. We will likely learn more once additional lawsuits are filed in the case. One of the hurdles that plaintiffs may face in this case is showing that their cancer was specifically caused by Zantac. Demonstrating causation is a requirement in a personal injury lawsuit, and the plaintiffs will have to bring scientific evidence that shows that this critical element of the lawsuit has been met.

Heartburn Cancer Lawsuits

If you have taken Zantac on a daily basis and have been diagnosed with cancer, you should consult with a personal injury attorney who concentrates in Ranitidine Cancer Lawsuits to learn of your legal rights. You may be entitled to substantial financial compensation for the harm that you have suffered. Your consultation with the Zantac lawsuit attorney is free and you owe the Zantac class action attorney nothing unless they are able to help you recover financially for your injury.

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