GSK has said it welcomed the decision from The British Columbia Supreme Court to dismiss a proposed class action on behalf of Zantac (ranitidine) users in Canada, who claimed the drug or other medicines containing ranitidine increased their risk of cancer.
The drugmaker and several other companies, including Pfizer, Boehringer and Sanofi, have been facing thousands of lawsuits around the world alleging that the medicines feature the carcinogen N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) that caused cancer.
In its ruling, the court said: “Given the uncontroverted evidence that neither ranitidine nor NDMA are reliably associated with increased cancer risk, and the absence of evidence that ranitidine or NDMA cause cancer in humans, the plaintiff has failed to raise a bona fide triable issue regarding injury due to the ingestion and/or purchase of ranitidine.”
GSK has continued to maintain that the drug does not cause cancer. It said in a statement: “Since 2019 there have been 13 peer-reviewed epidemiological studies conducted looking at human data regarding the use of ranitidine.
“The decision recognises that after more than three years of extensive study, the scientific consensus is that there is no consistent or reliable evidence that ranitidine increases the risk for any type of cancer.”
The company added that it will continue to “vigorously defend” proposed class actions by ranitidine users that have been filed in Ontario and Quebec, as well as individual actions filed by ranitidine users in Canada.
Ranitidine, originally marketed by GSK, was first approved in 1983 and became the world’s best selling medicine in 1988.
The drug decreases stomach acid production and is commonly used to treat conditions including peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease and Zollinger–Ellison syndrome.
In April 2020, ranitidine was withdrawn from the US market and suspended in the EU and Australia over growing concerns over the presence of NDMA.
The dismissal from the Canadian court comes just over a month after Johnson & Johnson offered $8.9bn to resolve the tens of thousands of lawsuits it faces in North America that claim its talc-based products cause cancer.