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The FDA recommended discontinuing Zantac use in September 2019 and officially recalled the drug in April 2020. Since the recall, multiple plaintiffs have filed legal complaints alleging that Zantac use led them to a cancer diagnosis.

Besides the U.S., over 40 other countries have recalled, banned, or issued warnings about Zantac, including Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.

Zantac Lawsuit Examples – Plaintiffs

• A plaintiff from Kentucky alleges that he took 150mg of Zantac daily from 2014 until 2017, and in 2018, was diagnosed with bladder cancer, which he believes was the result of carcinogens found in the medication.
• An Indiana woman claims that she regularly used ranitidine from the 1980s until early 2020. In 2018, she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and underwent a hysterectomy. She alleges that her cancer was the result of ranitidine use and believes that Sanofi (the maker of Zantac) failed to inform consumers of the risks of ranitidine, despite undeniable scientific evidence linking ranitidine to the production of high levels of NDMA.
• A Florida plaintiff who had been taking Zantac since 2009 developed breast cancer, a rare diagnosis in men, in 2013. He alleges that his cancer was the result of Zantac use, Sanofi Pharmaceuticals had plenty of time to study the obvious connection between increased cancer diagnosis in Zantac users, and the company was aware of the risks and chose not to disclose them.
• A Colorado man claims that he was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2018, after taking Zantac four times a week since 1996. He alleges that Sanofi claimed Zantac was harmless to humans because “full disclosure of the true risks of Zantac would limit the amount of money Defendants would make selling Zantac.”

The online pharmacy Valisure first alerted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2019 about unsafe amounts of N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) contamination in the heartburn medication Zantac (generic name ranitidine). Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro stepped in and wrote a letter, urging the FDA to remove Zantac from the shelves and ban the medication due to cancer risk.

Ranitidine poses a significant risk to public health and safety, and it is imperative that swift action is taken…Valisure’s data, in combination with four decades of scientific research, strongly suggests that  ranitidine is fundamentally unstable molecule and all products containing this drug have risk of cancer. It is incomprehensible that the FDA is fully aware  of this fact, yet, it continues to allow this drug to remain on the shelves.

– Congresswoman Rosa L. Delauro –  Letter to FDA and Department of Health & Human Services

There are times that manufacturers refuse to remove products from shelves, despite risk to public health. According to her website, Congresswoman Rosa L. Delauro reintroduced the Recall Unsafe Drugs Act, which would give the FDA to mandatory recall authority over drugs and homeopathic products.

With these discoveries and other research by our attorneys, Childers, Schlueter & Smith may be able to help you. If you have been injured after taking Zantac, please give us a call for a free consultation at 404-419-9500. You can find further information about Zantac right here on our website.