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Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will pay up to $2.2bn to settle lawsuits in the US relating to its heartburn drug Zantac, which was withdrawn from sale after concerns it could cause cancer. The agreements with 10 law firms represent about 80,000 claimants – 93% of all cases. GSK will also pay $70m to settle a whistleblower complaint that the drug was sold fraudulently, with risks concealed. No wrongdoing was admitted. Zantac was approved for sale in the US in 1983 and became the world’s best-selling drug within five years.
US regulators removed Zantac from shelves in 2020 due to the possibility that a key ingredient, ranitidine, could create a cancer-causing substance when exposed to heat, leading to tens of thousands of lawsuits. The previous year, UK doctors were told to stop prescribing four types of the drug as a precautionary measure. Other major pharmaceutical firms including Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim marketed the drug. Pfizer and Sanofi have also settled their cases, but the latter has not announced any major settlements.
GSK said the deal would remove significant financial uncertainty, risk and distraction associated with protracted litigation. A form of the drug, Zantac 360, which contains no ranidine, is still being sold
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