GSK was found not liable in the second jury trial involving the company’s heartburn medication, Zantac.
The company said in a statement Monday that the decision in Illinois state court is “consistent with the scientific consensus” that there is no firm evidence that ranitidine increases the risk of cancer. GSK noted that the court previously rejected the plaintiff’s request for punitive damages.
“GSK will continue to vigorously defend itself against all other claims,” the company said. Plaintiffs have sued the company, alleging that its popular heartburn medication led to their cancers.
The Illinois outcome is the second successful jury verdict for GSK, after winning a previous case in the state. Another was dismissed after the court ruled that GSK was not the manufacturer at the time the plaintiff allegedly used the drug.
Outside of Illinois, GSK has had less success. A Delaware court allowed more than 70,000 Zantac cases to proceed in June, with a judge concluding that the scientific rationale was “sufficiently reliable.” GSK said that it would appeal the ruling, citing a previous ruling in Florida that the evidence against Zantac was “flawed.”
A parallel case in California was trending in the same direction as the one in Delaware before GSK confidentially settled in October 2023.
Cases against GSK and other manufacturers of the product, including Sanofi and Pfizer, began to crop up after the British pharma pulled Zantac from the market in 2019. The FDA discovered that levels of the carcinogen N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) “increase with time and temperature posing a risk to consumers.”
Earlier this year, Sanofi was able to end almost all personal injury lawsuits filed against the company outside of Delaware. That settlement was similarly kept confidential, but a Sanofi representative said at the time that it would “have no material financial impact.”