Zantac medicine producers have been sued by tens of thousands of patients across the United States for their failure to warn and protect users from the cancer-causing effects of the drug. The FDA warned patients and healthcare providers about the dangers of ranitidine, an anti-nausea medicine. Zantac is the most frequent brand name for this medication. Test results show dangerous levels of an NDMA, a possible human carcinogen, in some Zantac tablets and capsule formulations.
The FDA has requested that all Zantac medications be withdrawn from the market due to repeated voluntary recalls from various major Zantac medicine makers. For those diagnosed with cancer or who lost a loved one due to the dangerous Zantac products, you may be qualified to file a Zantac lawsuit against the drug producers accountable for seeking compensation on behalf of yourself or your loved ones.
What is Zantac?
Zantac (ranitidine) is a member of a class of medications known as H2 blockers or histamine-2 antagonists. As an H2 blocker, Hydrochloride and other H2 antagonists reduce stomach acid production. The over-the-counter forms of H2 blockers, known as “antacids,” are routinely used to treat and prevent GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD). Prescription-strength Among the more severe illnesses Zantac treats includes heartburn and stomach/intestinal ulcers.
Since the 1980s, Zantac has been a relatively popular antacid medication. Over 15 million prescriptions on average were written for it each year. Millions more were able to get their hands on the brand-name and generic versions of the medicine. Glaxo (n/k/a GlaxoSmithKline) was the first firm to create this medicine. In the United States, it was given prescription medication approval in 1983.
In the history of pharmaceuticals, Zantac has become one of the most popular medications. It was the first drug to sell in the United States for more than $1 billion a year.
What Dangerous Ingredient was Found in Zantac?
Zantac contains NDMA, which has been shown as likely to cause cancer in people. The FDA states it “has found N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) levels in some ranitidine products increase with time and temperature posing a risk to consumers, and therefore the agency has requested the withdrawal of all ranitidine products from the U.S. market.” Fortunately, similar products do not contain the dangerous NDMA in famotidine (Pepcid), cimetidine (Tagamet), esomeprazole (Nexium), lansoprazole (Prevacid) or omeprazole (Prilosec).
Cancer Caused By Zantac
Many cancer cases have been linked to Zantac by people who have used the medicine and filed lawsuits. It causes cancer in many patients who have taken Zantac but had no family history or genetic indicators for cancer. As a result, physicians advised patients that NDMA poisoning may be to blame for their symptoms. Zantac lawsuits are eligible for cancers such as:
- Bladder
- Gastric/Stomach
- Esophageal
- Liver
- Pancreatic
Zantac Lawsuit and Payout
An increasing number of civil actions have been brought since the FDA recommended the voluntary recall of Zantac products owing to contamination with the cancer-causing chemical NDMA by Zantac manufacturers. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now advising that additional products containing ranitidine hydrochloride, including OTC Zantac and prescription Zantac, have been recalled in the wake of the recall of Zantac.
Several Zantac users have taken legal action demanding compensation for their injuries. Some of the payouts have been relatively significant. For example, punitive penalties and medical bills totaled $1.5 million, which was then covered by a payout in a Zantac lawsuit.
Zantac Lawsuit Settlement
When a defendant corporation files an appeal, the matter can drag on for years before a decision or settlement is reached. The online versions of court papers are provided solely for research purposes and should not be regarded as authoritative sources of legal advice.
Class action lawsuits have been launched against Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim for their deadly medicine Zantac, linked to cancer.
When Will Zantac Lawsuits Settle?
Victims are anxiously awaiting the resolution of the Zantac class action lawsuit payout. Unfortunately, Zantac’s global legal settlement is unlikely to be reached anytime soon. Settlements in large-scale mass tort lawsuits involving thousands of claimants always take some time.
Hundreds of additional plaintiffs join the case every week as it moves into the consolidated discovery phase. The good news is that Zantac has been taken off the shelves, which speeds up the settlement process.
What Is Global Settlement and Inventory Settlement
A global settlement is a lump sum payment that settles all outstanding claims. (There might be hundreds or thousands of shares in the Zantac case.) A “matrix” of factors is also used to determine which plaintiff receives how much.
Plaintiffs’ law firms examine their cases independently with inventory settlements. (Zantac is a typical client for most plaintiffs’ firms.) First, each plaintiff decides on a settlement sum that is agreeable to them. Then, the plaintiffs’ firm puts each client’s acceptable minimums together, called the aggregate minimum.
Zantac Settlement Value
For two reasons, it is simply not feasible to refer to specific settlement amounts at this time: first, each customer will have different injuries, resulting in various settlements, and second, the case has not progressed far enough to begin defining typical values. We have, however, worked on several pharmacological mass tort cases, so we know what to look for.
In our perspective, these instances usually result in tiers of settlements, with the most severe cases receiving the most money. To be clear, we’re not making any guarantees, but we anticipate the top tier of Zantac lawsuits might cost somewhere between $250,000 and $400,000.
Claimants in the tiers below will most likely get between $75,000 and $150,000, with third-tier claimants receiving between $25,000 and $50,000. To be clear, these are only estimates; each payout may not reach these amounts.
Example of Zantac Cancer Lawsuit Payout
Zantac lawsuit plaintiff Bennett Cohen, a New Yorker, was the most recent to join earlier this month. On November 19, 2021, Cohen filed a Complaint against a team of 13 people. GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim Medicines were two of the defendants.
Instead of his home jurisdiction (the Eastern District of New York), Cohen moved his case to the Zantac MDL class action in the Southern District of Florida. According to Cohen’s Complaint, he took the prescription and over-the-counter versions of Zantac and generic ranitidine. Cohen claimed to have regularly used Zantac for 17 years, from 1995 to 2012.
Cohen was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of that year. Prostate cancer was allegedly caused by Cohen’s 17-year usage of Zantac and ranitidine,
Conclusion
Zantac contains NDMA, which has been shown as likely to cause cancer in humans. Cancers eligible for Zantac lawsuit include urinary, stomach esophagus, liver, pancreatic, and bladder cancer, which is the most closely associated with Zantac-induced carcinogenesis.
Your doctor should know if you’ve been diagnosed with cancer after using Zantac. Then, they might use it to assist them in figuring out what’s wrong with you and make therapy suggestions.
You must save all of your doctor’s notes and other medical documents for future reference. You might be able to use Zantac’s producers for compensation if you meet the requirements to do so. Contact us immediately if you are interested in learning more about your legal options since your case may have time constraints.
