Figure 1 – Packages and pills of Zantac, Photo credit: www.BloombergLaw.com
The popular heartburn drug Zantac was on the market for nearly forty years, filling store shelves and medicine cabinets across the nation. In doing so, its creator earned billions in sales. Recent court filings revealing documents produced in litigation suggest that Glaxo, now known as GSK, may have known some forty years ago about the risk of cancer caused by Zantac ingredient ranitidine, including a ten page report dating back to 1982 which was considered internally at the time.
In 2019 the drug was found to contain high levels of a probable carcinogen. Valisure, a private lab operating independently of the United States Food and Drugs Administration (“FDA”), indicated it had found extremely high levels of NDMA in Zantac and several generic versions of ranitidine. NDMA, which is short for N-Nitrosodimethylamine, is a yellow liquid that dissolves in water. It is odorless and lacks much of a taste. It was first linked to cancer in 1956, particularity with regard to toxicity to the liver. The drug subsequently underwent recalls culminating with the FDA pulling Zantac from the shelves in 2020.
Tens of thousands of claimants’ suits are pending across the nation arising from exposure to Zantac’s carcinogenic ingredients.
If you or someone you love has suffered an injury from consumption of the drug Zantac, call the experienced lawyers at the Houston law firm Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner at 713-222-7211 or toll free at 1-800-870-9584 for a personal injury consultation.