Notwithstanding the December 2022, decision of a federal judge to dismiss over 50,000 pending Zantac claims, trials in state court are proceeding. Judge Robin L. Rosenberg of the U.S.D.C. for the Southern District of Florida who had been presiding over the Zantac MDL dismissed the federal claims on the basis that the opinions of plaintiffs’ experts linking Zantac and cancer were not supported by sound science.
Both cases are proceeding in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. The first, Joiner v. GlaxoSmithKline started on July 18 against defendants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Boehringer Ingelheim. The plaintiff in that case, Carrie Joiner, claims that her use of the popular heartburn medication Zantac over a 15-year period caused her to develop colorectal cancer.
Counsel for Ms. Joiner argued that GSK had done no testing on ranitidine, the key ingredient in Zantac, for 40 years despite being aware that there was the potential of harm with its use. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had issued a warning in September 2019, that trace amounts of the carcinogen NDMA were found in Zantac/ranitidine and had called for the removal of the product from store shelves in April 2020. In response, counsel for GSK pointed to a number of studies done subsequent to the recall that conclude there is no link between Zantac and cancer
Jury selection in another case, Gross v. Boehringer Ingelheim, started on July 19. The plaintiff in that case claims that his use of Zantac and resulting exposure to the carcinogen NDMA was a substantial contributing factor to his developing prostate cancer.
In May 2024, GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim had prevailed in a case heard in Illinois that was brought by a plaintiff who claimed her colorectal cancer was caused by her daily 18-year use of Zantac. There are currently Zantac jury trials scheduled in Cook County for June, July, September, and November of 2024, and in Philadelphia starting in February of 2025.
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Resources
https://www.lawsuit-information-center.com/zantac-lawsuit-settlement-amount.html
