Pfizer has agreed to settle lawsuits related to its Zantac heartburn treatment, which claim the over-the-counter medication caused cancer.
The pharmaceutical giant will pay up to $250 million to resolve 10,000 lawsuits brought on by former users of the now-recalled drug, according to the Financial Times.
Routine batch testing in 2019 revealed that Zantac, containing the active ingredient ranitidine, had carcinogenic N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). In response, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) asked drug manufacturers to pull products containing ranitidine from the market.
New York-based Pfizer sold Zantac between 1998 and 2006. According to a 2022 statement from Pfizer, βthe withdrawal of Zantac products from the market in 2019 and 2020 did not involve any Pfizer products.β
Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla: Our oncology drugs will be blockbuster ones “Seagen acquisition and oncology. It is what it is βCancer is our new Covid.’
