MARCH 24 (Reuters) – A California judge on Thursday ordered GSK Plc (GSK.L) to bar expert testimony linking the discontinued heartburn drug Zantac to cancer from future trials. I denied what I asked for. courts across the United States.
GSK shares fell 3.6% on Friday.
Analysts said Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo’s ruling wasn’t surprising, but the lawsuit is likely to weigh on the drugmaker’s stock until the trial, which is set to begin on July 24. said.
The trial will be the first test to see how Zantak’s cancer claims will be treated before a jury. says.
“Our client is about to spend the day in court, sharing with jurors the evidence GSK has known for decades that Zantac contains a staggering amount of proven carcinogens. We are looking forward to it,” Zantak said in a statement.
In a statement, GSK said it disagrees with the ruling and will defend the case at trial. The company has repeatedly denied that Zantac can cause cancer.
First approved in 1983, Zantac became the world’s best-selling drug in 1988 and one of the first drugs in history to exceed $1 billion in annual sales.
Initially sold by GSK’s predecessor, it was later sold to Pfizer (PFE.N), Boehringer Ingelheim and Sanofi (SASY.PA) in quick succession. These companies are also facing lawsuits over the drug.
Both companies scored big wins in December. A federal judge has dismissed all of Zantac’s cases (approximately 50,000) in U.S. federal court after finding plaintiffs’ expert witness opinions linking Zantac to cancer were not supported by sound science.
In 2019, some manufacturers and pharmacies stopped selling Zantac over concerns that the active ingredient, ranitidine, breaks down over time to form a chemical called NDMA. Although it is contained in trace amounts, it is known to cause cancer when present in large amounts.
The FDA withdrew all remaining brand-name Zantac and generic versions from the market in 2020, sparking a series of lawsuits.
Analysts said California courts are known to be friendlier to plaintiffs, so it’s not surprising that Grillo ruled differently than federal courts.
“There has been some disappointing (investor) feedback here, given that they were hoping a settlement was more likely,” Barclays analyst Emily Field said. “While this obviously removes the blue-sky scenario of the case being completely scrapped, it really wasn’t what people expected.”
Citi analysts said the GSK settlement amount was “likely very small” at less than $5 billion, noting that the statute of limitations would limit the surge in lawsuits to some extent.
Reporting by Maggie Fick of London, Abby Jose Coilparamville of Bangalore and Brendan Pearson of New York.Editing by Susan Fenton and Bill Barclot
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