Nexium Stomach Cancer Lawsuit Alleges Heartburn Drug Caused Fatal Gastric Cancer

Woman claims 10 years of Nexium use led to her husband’s gastric adenocarcinoma diagnosis, resulting in his death in 2021.

The makers of Nexium face a wrongful death lawsuit from a Pennsylvania widow who says taking the heartburn drug led to her husband’s fatal case of stomach cancer.

Darlene Turnbaugh filed the complaint (PDF) on July 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on behalf of herself and her late husband, Winford Eugene Turnbaugh. The defendants include AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, AstraZeneca LP and Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC.

The lawsuit claims the manufacturers actively hid knowledge of the true risks of Nexium stomach cancer to boost profits. Darlene Turnbaugh says this reckless disregard led to her husband enduring cancer, harsh chemotherapy treatments and death.

PPI Health Risks

Nexium is one of a class of heartburn drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which also includes Prilosec, Prevacid and others. They are widely used to reduce stomach acid and to treat symptoms of heartburn, ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) by blocking the proton pumps in the stomach’s lining, which produce stomach acid. PPIs are available both by prescription and over the counter.

As they have grown in popularity, studies in recent years have linked PPIs to a number of potential health risks, including acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease and kidney failure. These incidents have resulted in thousands of Nexium lawsuits, Prilosec lawsuits and claims involving other PPIs. Each involves similar allegations that plaintiffs and their doctors were deceived into believing the drugs were safe due to the lack of adequate label warnings.

In 2023 AstraZeneca agreed to pay $425 million to resolve 11,000 claims of Nexium and Prilosec kidney injuries. The agreement followed similar settlements with GlaxoSmithKline, Procter & Gamble and Pfizer, totaling $108 million.

Aside from kidney problems, concerns about Nexium stomach cancer began in 2017, when researchers from Hong Kong published a study in the medical journal Gut, suggesting long-term use of proton pump inhibitors could increase the risk of gastric cancer after treatment for Helicobacter pylori infections. That same year, Swedish researchers determined that maintenance use of PPIs was linked to triple the risk of gastric cancer when compared to the users’ peers.

Nexium Stomach Cancer Allegations

According to the lawsuit, Winford Eugene Turnbaugh began taking Nexium after his doctor prescribed the drug in about 2004. He allegedly purchased and used Nexium regularly until 2014.

The complaint claims his long-term use of the heartburn medication caused him to develop gastric adenocarcinoma. Despite undergoing chemotherapy, Winford Eugene Turnbaugh died from the disease in January 2021.

The lawsuit alleges Nexium can cause clinically significant hypergastrinemia, or elevated gastrin levels, by suppressing the production of stomach acid over extended periods. According to the complaint, reduced stomach acid weakens the body’s natural defenses against bacterial infections, allowing gastrin levels to accumulate and increasing the risk of cancer developing in the stomach lining, known as the mucosa.

Darlene Turnbaugh maintains evidence linking hypergastrinemia to an increased risk of stomach cancer emerged as early as 1980. By the late 1980s, the complaint indicates stomach tumors had been identified in patients exposed to PPIs over extended periods.

However, the lawsuit claims AstraZeneca concealed evidence linking Nexium to hypergastrinemia and gastric cancer rather than warning patients, doctors and the medical community. Darlene Turnbaugh indicates she remained unaware for years that her husband’s Nexium use may have contributed to his illness and death because of the manufacturers’ alleged efforts to hide the risk.

“Despite their knowledge of the risks of stomach cancer associated with their proton pump inhibitor, Nexium, Defendants took no action to inform Decedent or Decedent’s physicians of this known risk. Instead, Defendants continued to represent that Nexium did not pose any risks of stomach cancer in humans.”

– Darlene Turnbaugh et al. v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP et al.

Darlene Turnbaugh’s filing indicates that gastric cancer is the third deadliest cancer worldwide, with approximately five to six new cases diagnosed annually for every 100,000 people in the United States. Although the overall five-year survival rate is about 29%, it rises to between 88% and 94% when the disease is detected early and falls to between 0% and 4% for patients diagnosed with Stage IV cancer.

The lawsuit raises allegations of negligence, design defect, failure to warn, breach of warranty, fraudulent concealment and violations of Pennsylvania consumer protection laws. It also brings wrongful death and survival claims on behalf of Darlene Turnbaugh, her late husband’s estate and their three children.

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