Topline
Pharmaceutical heavyweight GSK on Wednesday said it had settled four lawsuits in the U.S. that claimed its popular heartburn drug Zantac causes cancer, averting a trial due to start in California next month as it and other pharma firms work to manage looming legal threats from the discontinued medication.
Key Facts
The British drugmaker didn’t disclose the terms of the deal but said it had reached a “confidential settlement” for the Cantlay/Harper case filed in California state court.
GSK said the case, which was set to go to trial on November 13, will now be dismissed.
The company said it has also settled three “bellwether” breast cancer cases in California and will be dismissed from the cases and related pre-trial hearings.
No further details of these settlements or cases were given.
GSK stressed the decisions to settle are a reflection of “the company’s desire to avoid the distraction related to protracted litigation” and are not an admission of liability.
The pharma firm said it will “continue to vigorously defend itself based on the facts and the science in all other Zantac cases.”
Key Background
Zantac, sold generically as ranitidine, was a best-seller and one of the first drugs to achieve blockbuster status by topping $1 billion in annual sales. The drug, used to treat ulcers and relieve heartburn, was developed and brought to market in the early 1980s by Glaxo Holdings, a British company that would later form a part of GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK. At various points in time, versions of Zantac were also marketed by other pharma firms including Haleon, Sanofi and Pfizer. In 2019, health regulators said they were investigating the drug over concerns it contained a probable carcinogen (something that can cause cancer) called NDMA, prompting many companies to voluntarily pull the drug from the market. In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration said the drug itself appeared to produce NDMA over time—it can be safe in small amounts but can cause cancer when consumed in large quantities—and ordered all ranitidine drugs to be pulled from the market. A wave of lawsuits against the companies that marketed the drugs followed, which shed $30 billion from market capitalization last year amid growing concerns over potential liabilities, despite the pharma firms saying there is no scientific evidence to back claims of consumer harm.
What To Watch For
GSK, which settled a similar lawsuit in California in June, is still facing many Zantac-related lawsuits. Citi analysts estimate the company will settle all cases against it for around $5 billion in the first quarter of 2024, according to Reuters.
Big Number
79,000. That’s how many cases related to Zantac GSK still face, according to Reuters. The majority of these, some 73,000, are in Delaware, which is thought to be a less challenging jurisdiction to large companies than California.
AstraZeneca Settles Lawsuits Alleging Heartburn Drugs Caused Kidney Disease For $425 Million (Forbes)
Zantac’s Maker Kept Quiet About Cancer Risks for 40 Years (Bloomberg)
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