GSK (NYSE:GSK)
When a Canadian judge rejected a planned class action lawsuit on behalf of a class of ranitidine users in Canada, GSK (NYSE:GSK) expressed its satisfaction.
The British pharmaceutical behemoth said that the judge acknowledged the widespread scientific agreement, based on more than three years of research, that ranitidine does not enhance cancer risk.
According to the manufacturer, 13 epidemiological studies with human data have been completed since 2019 regarding the use of ranitidine, marketed as Zantac, for heartburn.
According to the British Columbia Supreme Court’s ruling in Dussiaume v. Sandoz Canada Inc. 2023 BCSC 795, “given the uncontroverted evidence that neither ranitidine nor NDMA is reliably associated with increased cancer risk, and the absence of evidence that ranitidine or NDMA cause cancer in humans, the plaintiff has failed to raise a bona fide triable issue regarding injury due to the ingestion and/or purchase of ranitidine,” the company said.
GSK stock said it will keep fighting proposed class actions from ranitidine users in Ontario and Quebec and individual lawsuits from Canadians who use the medicine.
Concerns over N-nitroso dimethylamine (NDMA), a possible human carcinogen, led to Zantac’s (ranitidine) withdrawal from the U.S. market in 2020.
Companies including Sanofi (SNY), Haleon (HLN) (a consumer spinoff of GSK), Pfizer (PFE), Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA), Perrigo (PRGO), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (RDY), and Boehringer Ingelheim are also worried about the number of Zantac lawsuits being filed.
Companies have been sued hundreds of times on claims that they did not provide sufficient warning about the dangers of the antacid. In February, Bloomberg Businessweek published an article claiming that GSK intentionally hid evidence linking Zantac to cancer.
GSK issued a statement in March stating its disagreement with the California state court’s verdict in the Goetz case involving Zantac. Sanofi and Pfizer settled a pending Zantac action in California in December 2022, although GSK was still named a defendant.
In the same year, a federal court in Florida dismissed hundreds of cases against GSK and Sanofi, alleging that Zantac causes cancer. All Multi-District Litigation (MDL) proceedings brought against GSK for the five remaining malignancies were rejected, as GSK had previously reported.
GSK stock gained 1.38% during early trading on May 12, trading at $36.74.
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