STAT+: GSK to pay $2.2 billion to settle most Zantac lawsuits over claims the heartburn pill causes cancer

After protracted legal battling, GSK has agreed to pay $2.2 billion to settle most of the pending lawsuits that claimed a discontinued version of the Zantac heartburn medication caused cancer. The settlement covers roughly 80,000 cases, or 93% of the suits that were outstanding in state courts around the U.S.

At the same time, the company agreed to pay $70 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that was filed by Valisure, an independent laboratory that alleged GSK concealed the link between the medication and a carcinogen for nearly four decades. The agreement is subject to approval by the U.S. Department of Justice. GSK did not admit to any liability in either settlement.

The litigation was sparked after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 asked manufacturers — including Sanofi, Pfizer, and Boehringer Ingelheim, as well as GSK — to pull Zantac off the market over mounting concerns that its active ingredient, ranitidine, could degrade into an organic chemical called NDMA, over time or when exposed to heat.

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