GSK pays 2.2 billion dollars to settle Zantac lawsuits
Av The settlement covers about 80,000 cases in which users of Zantac, which was a heartburn drug, claim the treatment gave them cancer. This corresponds to approximately 93 percent of the lawsuits that are currently in the US.
All the 10 plaintiff firms involved in the cases will recommend their clients accept the terms of the settlement, which is expected to be completed by the end of the first half of 2025, according to GSK.
“While the scientific consensus remains that there is no consistent or reliable evidence that ranitidine increases the risk of any cancer, GSK strongly believes that these settlements are in the best long-term interests of the company and its shareholders as they remove significant financial uncertainty, risk and distraction associated with protracted litigation”, the company says in a statement.
After the settlement was announced the GSK shares jumped more than 5 % on Thursday. The deal, which was announced on Wednesday, was considerably lower than many analysts and investors had expected,
Zantac, with the active substance ranitidine, was approved in 1983 and five years later was the world's best-selling drug. It was initially marketed by a predecessor of GSK, but was later resold to successively Pfizer, Boehringer and Sanofi.
The drug was prescribed for reducing stomach acid production and was used, among other things, in the treatment of stomach ulcers. However, in 2019, it was discovered that over time and under certain conditions, ranitidine can be converted into nitrosamines, or NDMA, a substance that, based on animal studies, is suspected of being carcinogenic.
In Europe and Sweden the drug was withdrawn in 2019, and in the US the FDA made the corresponding decision the following year. At the same time, more and more lawsuits began to come in from people who believed that their cancer was a result of the use of Zantac.
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