AstraZeneca Settles Lawsuits Over Heartburn Drugs for $425 Million in Landmark Agreement
AstraZeneca, the British pharmaceutical giant, has reached a significant settlement in the United States to pay $425 million in order to resolve approximately 11,000 lawsuits. These lawsuits alleged that the company’s heartburn medications, Nexium and Prilosec, were responsible for causing chronic kidney disease in patients.
Under the terms of the settlement, AstraZeneca did not admit any wrongdoing, making it part of a broader legal battle against manufacturers of a class of heartburn drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). While the settlement did not involve any admission of guilt, AstraZeneca’s shares experienced a slight dip of 0.4% following the announcement.
The plaintiffs’ attorney, Chris Seeger, hailed the settlements as a significant victory for the thousands of patients who had suffered kidney injuries due to the use of these drugs. It is worth noting that although this settlement resolves a substantial number of cases, a single lawsuit is still scheduled to proceed to trial in April in Louisiana, according to AstraZeneca.
Nexium, one of the heartburn drugs in question, had been a substantial revenue source for AstraZeneca, generating approximately $1.3 billion in revenue in the previous year. The company did not disclose specific sales figures for Prilosec.
The majority of lawsuits against PPI manufacturers were consolidated in a New Jersey federal court in 2017, while other cases covered by this particular settlement were spread across New Jersey and Delaware state courts.
The crux of the plaintiffs’ claims in these lawsuits revolved around the allegation that the use of PPIs led to kidney damage or failure and that the pharmaceutical companies failed to adequately warn patients of these risks. These allegations extended to both the prescription versions of the drugs and their lower-dose over-the-counter counterparts.
While this settlement addresses AstraZeneca’s involvement, claims against other pharmaceutical companies, including Abbott Laboratories and Takeda Pharmaceutical, regarding their PPIs, such as Prevacid and Dexilant, remain pending.
In a separate legal battle, litigation against GSK and other companies centers around the now-withdrawn heartburn drug Zantac, with plaintiffs arguing that it can lead to cancer. GSK has settled some individual cases before trial but is still facing tens of thousands of cases in state courts. It’s worth noting that in a federal court, around 50,000 Zantac cases were dismissed after a judge determined that the claims lacked a basis in sound scientific evidence.
