Drug maker is challenging a lower court ruling, which allows Zantac lawsuits in Delaware to move forward to trial over the increased risk of cancer caused by the recalled heartburn medication.
Florida ruling does not directly impact other Zantac lawsuits filed against GlaxoSmithKline in other state courts, each involving claims that former users were not adequately warned about the cancer risks that led to a 2020 recall.
Defense verdict comes as GSK faces several additional Zantac trials in Florida, Pennsylvania and Nevada in the coming months, each raising similar allegations that the recalled heartburn drug caused cancer to develop in former users.
Despite agreeing to a number of individual Zantac lawsuit settlements and issuing a massive Zantac recall in 2020, GSK continues to argue that there is no evidence the recalled heartburn drug caused cancers among users.
Judges noted that the nine Zantac lawsuits involving more than 850 plaintiffs were structured in a way to avoid the need for the cases to be handled at the federal level, where all similar claims have been dismissed.
Nearly 75,000 lawsuits over cancer caused by Zantac can proceed, after Delaware state court judge found that plaintiffs' expert witness testimony was sufficient for a jury to consider the claims
Verdict comes in a Zantac lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim, weeks after Sanofi and Pfizer announced agreements to settle thousands of Zantac cancer claims.
Glaxo first discovered a link between NDMA in Zantac and cancer at least four decades ago, according to the lawsuit filed by the independent testing lab that uncovered the cancer risks associated with the heartburn drug
GlaxoSmithKline reportedly faces the bulk of the remaining Zantac cancer lawsuits, with the first case of more than 70,000 claims currently going before a jury in Chicago.
A Zantac recall in 2019 has led to years of litigation against several different drug makers, over cancer-causing chemicals in the widely used heartburn drug.
