Latest Zantac trial against Boehringer Ingelheim ends with hung jury
Adds detail from verdict in paragraph 2, case and counsel information
By Brendan Pierson
Nov 22 (Reuters) -A trial ended with a hung jury on Thursday in a California man's lawsuit alleging Boehringer Ingelheim's discontinued heartburn drug Zantac gave him bladder cancer.
The jury in California state court found that Zantac was dangerous and that Boehringer Ingelheim, which sold the drug from 2006 to 2017, failed to warn consumers adequately about the danger. However, the 12 jurors deadlocked 6-6 on whether the drug caused plaintiff John Russell's cancer, according to Russell's lawyers, so no final verdict could be reached.
It was the third time that a Zantac trial against the privately held German drugmaker ended with a deadlocked jury.
Russell's lawyers, Brent Wisner and Jennifer Moore, said in a joint statement that they "stand ready to retry this case immediately."
"Boehringer dodged a bullet today - that won't happen again," they said.
Boehringer Ingelheim in a statement said it was "unfortunate" that the jury had not reached a verdict.
"However, once again, plaintiffs have failed to convince another jury of the merits of their baseless claims regarding Zantac," it said.
Russell accused the company of failing to warn that the drug's active ingredient ranitidine could degrade into a cancer-causing substance called NDMA.
First approved by U.S. regulators in 1983, Zantac became the world's best-selling medicine in 1988 and one of the first to top $1 billion in annual sales. The drug was sold at different times by Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK GSK.L, Pfizer PFE.N and Sanofi SASY.PA.
Lawsuits against the companies began piling up in both state and federal courts after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked manufacturers in 2020 to pull Zantac off the market. The agency cited concerns that ranitidine could degrade into NDMA, a carcinogen, over time or when exposed to heat.
GSK last month agreed to settle about 80,000 Zantac lawsuits, representing most of the litigation against it, for $2.2 billion. Pfizer has also agreed to settle most of the outstanding cases against it, according to its most recent financial statement. Sanofi in April announced that it was settling about 4,000 cases.
Plaintiffs have not won any of the five trials that have been held so far over Zantac. In addition to the two previous deadlocks in cases against Boehringer Ingelheim, two trials have ended in victories for the defense - one for GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim, and one for GSK alone.
A majority of the remaining state court cases are in Delaware, where a judge in June allowed plaintiffs to present crucial expert testimony that Zantac caused cancer. The drug companies are appealing the judge's ruling to the Delaware Supreme Court, arguing that the expert testimony was not backed by sound science.
The companies had successfully used that argument to get about 50,000 lawsuits thrown out of Florida federal court in 2022. About 14,000 of those cases are being appealed.
A drug currently sold under the name Zantac 360 uses a different active ingredient and contains no ranitidine.
The case is Russell v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Alameda, No. RG20061561,
For plaintiffs: Brent Wisner of Wisner Baum and Jennifer Moore of Moore Law Group
For Boehringer Ingelheim: Alex Calfo, Julia Romano and Robert Friedman of King & Spalding
Read more:
GSK agrees to settle about 80,000 Zantac lawsuits for up to $2.2 bln
Boehringer Ingelheim faces second hung jury in Chicago Zantac trial
Delaware top court will hear drugmakers' appeal to end Zantac lawsuits
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