Zantac Bladder Cancer Lawsuit Trial Ends With Hung Jury in California

A trial in California state court over the heartburn drug Zantac has ended in a mistrial, after the jury could not agree on whether to hold Boehringer Ingelheim liable for a man’s bladder cancer injuries.

The original lawsuit was filed by John Russell, a bladder cancer survivor who indicates his ailment was caused by exposure to chemical contaminants in Zantac, which was removed from the market in late 2019 following the discovery that the active pharmaceutical ingredient is inherently unstable and produces high levels of the chemical byproduct N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), which is a potent human carcinogen.

The complaint was one of tens of thousands of Zantac lawsuits filed in recent years by former users of the medication who developed various forms of cancer, including bladder cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer and other injuries.

The trial began on October 3 and ended this week after Alameda County Superior Court Judge Noel Wise declared a mistrial, following seven days of jury deliberation.

While the jury concluded that Boehringer Ingelheim failed to provide adequate warnings about the risks of cancer, it split 6-6 over whether the recalled heartburn drug actually caused Russell’s cancer diagnosis.

Russell’s complaint indicated that the company failed to warn about the Zantac cancer risks. However, defendants argued that there was no proof Russell used Boehringer Ingelheim’s specific Zantac products.

In addition, the company’s attorneys maintained that he had several risk factors, such as being overweight and exposed to second-hand smoke, that could have also played a role in his cancer development.

Although a second trial date has yet to be announced, Russell’s attorneys indicate they are ready to present the case again to a different jury.

Zantac Settlement Agreements

The verdict comes after drug manufacturers have made progress resolving large numbers of Zantac cancer lawsuits through settlement agreements in recent months.

Just days before the Russell trial began, GlaxoSmithKline announced it will pay about $2.2 billion in Zantac settlements to resolve about 80,000 claims over its role in the development and sale of the heartburn drug, which have mostly been concentrated in Delaware state court.

Earlier this year, Pfizer and Sanofi previously agreed to pay hundreds of millions in Zantac settlements to resolve claims involving their versions of the medication.

However, thousands of claims remain unresolved and continue to make their way through the state and federal court systems.

The Zantac litigation was originally focused in the federal court system, but U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg issued a controversial ruling in 2022, determining that all of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses were excluded from testifying at trial under federal evidentiary rules.

Appeals are currently being pursued to overturn that decision, but all Zantac lawsuits pending in the federal court system have been dismissed. However, the federal ruling did not have any impact on lawsuits filed in California, Delaware and various other state courts, where different standards for the admissibility of expert witness testimony apply.