Zantac

This section contains news about Zantac Lawsuits and what plaintiffs can expect going forward. This section was last updated on: February 15, 2022.

January 25, 2022: Attorneys involved in the Zantac MDL notified the court that only lawsuits with the following types of cancers will have expert reports provided: bladder cancer, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer and pancreatic cancer.

November 17, 2021: As of November 2021, over 1,700 Zantac lawsuits have been consolidated in the MDL.

August 18, 2021: The Zantac MDL judge dismissed all lawsuits involving generic or store brand versions of the drug. This means that even if the individuals who used generic versions of Zantac developed cancer because of the drug, they are not eligible to file a claim. While this is bad news for generic ranitidine users, it does streamline the Zantac litigation and puts a spotlight on manufacturers Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim in the case.

May 16, 2022: A series of hearings for all Zantac lawsuits will be held on September 2022. It will be decided which expert testimonies linking Zantac to the development of cancer will be admissible for the trial. 

The FDA announced in September 2019 that it found samples of an impurity called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in prescription and over-the-counter ranitidine medicines, including Zantac. NDMA is a probable human carcinogen. As a result, several pharmaceutical companies announced a voluntary recall of their ranitidine products, including Sandoz, Walgreens, Walmart, Rite-Aid, and Apotex Corp. Sanofi followed suit announcing a recall on over the counter ranitidine products in October 2019.

In November 2019, the FDA released the initial laboratory reports of ranitidine testing. The agency found out that the contamination level of NDMA in ranitidine is low, although the levels were 3,000 to 26,000 times more than what is considered to be safe.

The agency advised additional independent testing for each manufacturer before making the drugs available to consumers. Several drug manufacturers and re-packaging companies continued to announce a voluntary recall of ranitidine.

In November 2019, a motion was filed by a group of plaintiffs to the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to consolidate all Zantac lawsuits into multidistrict litigation (MDL).  The petition suggests New Jersey as the location for the MDL since it is also the location where Valsartan lawsuits are currently consolidated in similar litigation. Valsartan is another drug contaminated with NDMA, and one that is the subject of hundreds of lawsuits.

On February 2020, a multidistrict litigation for consolidated Zantac lawsuits was created (MDL 2924) in Southern Florida.

The FDA requested manufacturers of ranitidine products to remove it from the market on April 2020. New tests show ranitidine is a risk to public health.

As of April 2021, more than 500 Zantac cases have been filed under MDL 2924.

The Zantac lawsuits allege that Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim knew or should have known about the NDMA contamination but did not warn consumers of the risk. These companies continued to manufacture and market Zantac as a safe heartburn medication despite the carcinogenic NDMA contamination.

On August 2021, the Zantac MDL judge dismissed all lawsuits involving generic or store brand versions of the drug. This means that even if the individuals who used generic versions of Zantac developed cancer because of the drug, they are not eligible to file a claim. While this is bad news for generic ranitidine users, it does streamline the Zantac litigation and puts a spotlight on manufacturers Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim in the case.

On February 2022, attorneys involved in the Zantac MDL notified the court that only lawsuits that they will provide expert reports for five type of cancer: bladder cancer, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer and pancreatic cancer.

On May 16, 2022, the presiding MDL judge announced a series of hearings for all Zantac lawsuits, to be held on September 2022. It will be decided which expert testimonies linking Zantac to the development of cancer will be admissible for the trial.