Zantac: Claims – Mammoth $100M After 4,000 US Lawsuits

A particularly important case has occupied state courts in the US in recent years, as thousands of former users of the well-known drug “Zantac» have filed lawsuits linking the drug to cancer. Yes, the company Sanofithe French pharmaceutical giant that made and sold Zantac, agreed to pay about $100 million to 4,000 plaintiffs to settle damages lawsuits they have filed against Sanofi and other drug companies.

As reported by Bloomberg, the agreement provides for the payment of $25,000 to each user. In a statement, Sanofi said it was settling to “avoid the expense and continued distraction of litigation.” However, the total amount of the payout will depend on how many of the 4,000 claimants choose to accept the settlement offer or they will continue the legal battle.

Zantac has been withdrawn from the market since 2019. A few weeks ago, an independent laboratory publicly announced that it had detected the possible carcinogen Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in the drug. In particular, according to the relevant publications, the laboratory’s research showed that the active ingredient of Zantac – ranitidine – formed NDMA over time or at high temperatures. US regulators confirmed the findings in April 2020 and ordered the drug off the market. As it happened. Sanofi then won approval to put Zantac back on US store shelves, but without ranitidine. In this context Zantac is made with famotidinethe active ingredient in the competitor Pepcid.

20,000 lawsuits in Delaware

The agreement with Sanofi it does not “close” the case. It is typical that 20,000 lawsuits are currently pending regarding Zantac in Delaware state court. The plaintiffs are awaiting a judge’s ruling on whether there is sufficient scientific evidence to support the plaintiffs’ claims that Zantac causes cancer. For example, in 2022 the federal court in Florida dismissed about 50,000 lawsuits filed with similar claims.

The documentonews.Gr publishes excerpts from one of thousands of lawsuits filed in US court against pharmaceutical companies that manufactured and sold the Zantac. Among them the Sanofi which agreed to pay about $100 million as part of the settlement.

As stated in it, “Zantac is the brand name for ranitidine, a drug that has been advertised and sold for nearly four decades as a safe and effective remedy for heartburn and indigestion.” In fact, at one point the specific drug reached 1 billion dollars in sales. As noted, “recent scientific studies have confirmed what the defendants knew or should have known decades ago: ranitidine converts over time and under natural conditions to high levels of Nitrosodimethylamine (“NDMA”), a potent and dangerous carcinogen ».

In 2019, the laboratory conducted a series of tests on Zantac. During the research, he “discovered the connection between ranitidine and NDMA and that ranitidine itself is unstable and can be broken down into NDMA, particularly in the stomach environment.” On the 1^the In April 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration “requested the withdrawal of Zantac and all other ranitidine-containing products in the United States, citing unacceptable levels of NDMA in these drugs.”

According to the lawsuit, “the defendants, among other things, designed, manufactured, distributed, packaged, labeled, marketed and/or sold Zantac without proper expiration dates and proper packaging—failed to ensure proper manufacturing conditions, transportation, handling, and storage of Zantac and failed to disclose material facts about the safety of Zantac and the risks associated with its intended use.”

20,000 lawsuits in Delaware

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