GSK agrees to settle about 80,000 Zantac lawsuits for up to $2.2 billion
CNN
GSK has agreed to pay up to $2.2 billion to settle most lawsuits in US state courts claiming that a discontinued version of the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, the company announced on Wednesday.
GSK has agreed to pay up to $2.2 billion to settle most lawsuits in US state courts claiming that a discontinued version of the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, the company announced on Wednesday. The agreement with 10 plaintiffs’ law firms resolves about 80,000 cases, or 93% of cases pending against the British drugmaker in state courts nationwide, the company said. GSK also said it would pay $70 million to settle a related whistleblower lawsuit filed by a Connecticut laboratory. GSK did not admit wrongdoing as part of the deal, saying in a statement that there was “no consistent or reliable evidence” that ranitidine, the drug’s active ingredient, increased the risk of cancer. However, it said the settlements were in the best long-term interest of the company to avoid the risk of continuing litigation. Jennifer Moore and R. Brent Wisner, lead attorneys for the plaintiffs, said in a joint statement that they were “thrilled” with the deal. First approved by US regulators in 1983, Zantac became the world’s best-selling medicine in 1988 and one of the first to top $1 billion in annual sales. The drug was sold at different times by pharmaceutical companies GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim. Lawsuits against the companies began piling up in both state and federal courts after the US Food and Drug Administration in 2020 asked manufacturers to pull Zantac off the market. The agency cited concerns that ranitidine could degrade into NDMA, a carcinogen, over time or when exposed to heat.