Delaware Supreme Court To Hear Drugmakers' Appeal To End Zantac Lawsuits

Delaware Supreme Court To Hear Drugmakers' Appeal To End Zantac Lawsuits

The Food and Drug Administration had ordered them to pull the medicine off the market over health concerns

The Delaware Supreme Court has said it will hear an appeal by drugmakers GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim, who have sought to end over 70,000 lawsuits that claimed the (now discontinued) heartburn medicine Zantac caused cancer.

The litigation began in 2020 after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked manufacturers to pull the drug off the market over concerns that ranitidine, the active ingredient in Zantac and generic versions of the drug, could degrade into NDMA (N-Nitrosodimethylamine), a carcinogen, over time or when exposed to heat.

The four drug manufacturers have pleaded that the court overturn the lower court judge’s order. It should allow the plaintiffs to offer expert testimony on the alleged cancer link. The companies argued that it was not supported by scientific processes.

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. It was sold by the four companies, all of which faced thousands of lawsuits.

Until now, three cases have gone to trial, with two ending in verdicts for the defense and one with a hung jury.