Last fall, the FDA began an investigation and announced recalls of certain drugs containing ranitidine, the most popular of which was Zantac. Laboratory tests have revealed a clear link between Zantac users and various kinds of cancer forming most commonly in the digestive tract.
If you are a former Zantac patient who has been diagnosed with cancer, read more about our free legal consultations or give us a call at 845-600-0000. We have decades of experience pushing back against pharmaceutical and insurance companies who put profits ahead of people. Our offices are conveniently located in Kingston and Poughkeepsie.
Since the announcement was made in the fall, at least 140 people across the country have filed suit against various producers of ranitidine-based drugs. One of them is a woman named Deborah Haskins, a Zantac user who has developed esophageal cancer.
“According to the complaint, Haskins began using Zantac in 2005, taking at least one tablet of 75mg per day. She claims that, as a result, she developed esophageal cancer, but it’s unclear when she was diagnosed.
Esophageal cancer begins in the cells of the tube that connects the throat to the stomach.
She is suing on the grounds that “Zantac has a design defect, that the maker failed to warn consumers of the risks and committed fraud by doing so, and of battery for causing her injuries.”
In 1988, Zantac was heralded as the second-ever “billion dollar drug” by the NY Times, and has been prescribed to tens of millions of patients over the years. That popularity means that the number of affected people is astronomical: One lawyer from Los Angeles estimates that “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people” may qualify for some kind of legal action.
In preparation for the massive quantity of impending Zantac lawsuits, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation recently agreed to consolidate Zantac cases into what’s known as “multidistrict litigation” based in the Southern District of Florida. This will streamline the legal process for plaintiffs from all across the country, including those who are suing from the Hudson Valley.
If you are a former Zantac patient and have been diagnosed with cancer, please give us a call at 845-600-0000 to receive a free consultation. We will help you determine your legal options for Zantac litigation. All of the Hudson Valley clients we represent in this litigation will have their own individual claims against Zantac and will not be pooled into a class-action. Instead, each of our clients’ claims will be handled on an individual basis consistent with what is known as a Mass Tort. This allows for our clients to retain more control over their claim and obtain the best possible monetary result.
Here are two other Zantac lawsuit examples, which are shared via Drugwatch:
A Florida resident named Joseph Galimidi is suing because he took from Zantac from 2009 to 2013 and developed a rare form of breast cancer in 2013. His complaint says: “While his heartburn was healed, Zantac-laden with N-Nitrososdimethylamine (“NDMA”), a probably human carcinogen – wreaked havoc in his body and led to his breast cancer,”.
A Colorado resident named Mark Allan Blake is suing because he took Zantac OTC four times a week since the late 1990s. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2018, and believes it was caused by Zantac. His complaint reads, “This was not done by accident or through some justifiable negligence. Rather, Defendants knew that it could turn a profit by convincing consumers that Zantac was harmless to humans, and that full disclosure of the true risks of Zantac would limit the amount of money Defendants would make selling Zantac.”
Read more about Hudson Valley Zantac and ranitidine lawsuits.