Court Ruling May Allow Pharma Giants to Escape Multiple Zantac Lawsuits

A federal judge has decided consumer claims that Zantac (ranitidine) causes cancer were not backed by scientific evidence, and thus several big drugmakers can now avoid thousands of U.S. lawsuits.

The decision in the multidistrict litigation by U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in Florida applies to close to 50,000 claims in federal court against Sanofi, GSK, Pfizer and Boehringer Ingelheim, which each held rights to Zantac during the drug’s 39-year history.

Thousands of similar cases pending in state courts are not affected, however. But history shows that state courts usually bend in the same direction as federal court rulings.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said that they plan to file an appeal.