Boehringer Ingelheim faces second hung jury in Chicago Zantac trial
Hung jury in latest Zantac cancer trial in Chicago
Boehringer Ingelheim only defendant after settlements with GSK, Pfizer
FDA pulled Zantac in 2020 over NDMA carcinogen concerns
Updates Sept 18 story with statement from Boehringer Ingelheim in paragraph 5
By Brendan Pierson
Sept 18 (Reuters) -The latest trial over claims that the discontinued heartburn drug Zantac causes cancer ended with a hung jury on Wednesday, as jurors in Chicago were unable to agree on whether Boehringer Ingelheim must pay damages to an Illinois man who said he developed prostate cancer as a result of taking the drug, according to the man's lawyer.
It was the second time a jury failed to reach a verdict at trial during the ongoing wave of litigation over the now-discontinued drug.
"We appreciate the jury's careful consideration," Eric Olson, a lawyer for plaintiff Ronald Kimbrow, said in an email. "Boehringer Ingelheim has now twice failed to convince a jury that Zantac was safe."
He said the case would go to trial again.
"We are pleased that, once again, plaintiffs have failed to convince another jury of the merits of their baseless claims regarding Zantac," Boehringer Ingelheim said in a statement.
The privately held German drugmaker was the only defendant at the trial in Cook County Circuit Court, after plaintiff Ronald Kimbrow settled with others including GSK GSK.L, which originally developed the drug, and Pfizer PFE.N.
Kimbrow, 73, said he took Zantac from 1995 to 2019.
Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Pfizer and Sanofi SASY.PA all sold brand name Zantac at various times since it was approved in 1983, and have been named in tens of thousands of lawsuits over the alleged cancer link.
The litigation began after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 asked manufacturers to pull the drug off the market over concerns that its active ingredient, ranitidine, could degrade into NDMA, a carcinogen, over time or when exposed to heat.
Three lawsuits over Zantac had previously gone to trial, all in Illinois, with two ending in verdicts for the defense and one with a hung jury.
The drugmakers won a significant victory in 2022, when a federal judge in Florida rejected the plaintiffs' expert witnesses for about 50,000 cases that had been centralized in her court on the grounds that they did not use reliable scientific methods. Without those witnesses, the cases could not go forward, though some plaintiffs are appealing.
The Delaware Supreme Court last month said it would consider drugmakers' bid to keep similar expert testimony out of court in that state, where more than 70,000 lawsuits - the vast majority of the remaining litigation - have been brought. A lower court judge refused to exclude the experts, allowing the cases to go forward.
Sanofi has agreed to settle about 4,000 cases against it, while Pfizer has reportedly agreed to settle more than 10,000.
Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Marguerita Choy
Aset Berkaitan
Berita Terkini
Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
Sebarang kandungan pihak ketiga serta kandungan yang disediakan oleh XM, seperti pendapat, berita, penyelidikan, analisis, harga, maklumat lain atau pautan ke laman web pihak ketiga yang terdapat dalam laman web ini disediakan berdasarkan "seadanya" sebagai ulasan pasaran umum dan bukanlah nasihat pelaburan. Sesuai dengan apa-apa kandungan yang ditafsir sebagai penyelidikan pelaburan, anda mestilah ambil perhatian dan menerima bahawa kandungan tersebut tidak bertujuan dan tidak sediakan berdasarkan keperluan undang-undang yang direka untuk mempromosikan penyelidikan pelaburan bebas dan oleh itu, ia dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah peraturan dan undang-undang yang berkaitan. SIla pastikan bahawa anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi mengenai Penyelidikan Pelaburan Bukan Bebas dan Amaran Risiko mengenai maklumat di atas yang boleh diakses di sini.
