GSK wins latest trial over Zantac cancer claims

Aug 5 (Reuters) - GSK won the latest trial over claims that discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, as a jury on Monday found that the drug was not responsible for an Illinois woman's illness, a company spokesperson said.

Carrie Joiner had alleged in her lawsuit in state court in Chicago that she developed colorectal cancer from a carcinogenic contaminant called NDMA found in the once-blockuster drug.

A lawyer for Joiner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zantac was sold at different times by GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim. First approved by U.S. regulators in 1983, it became the world's best-selling medicine in 1988 and one of the first to top $1 billion in annual sales.

The companies collectively are facing thousands of lawsuits against them in courts across the United States.

The majority of those are in Delaware state court, where a judge in June allowed more than 70,000 cases to go forward after rejecting the defendants' bid to keep key plaintiffs' expert witnesses out of court on the grounds that their scientific methods were not reliable. The companies are appealing that ruling.

The lawsuits began piling up after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 asked manufacturers to pull the drug off the market over concerns that ranitidine, the active ingredient in Zantac and generic versions of the drug, could degrade into NDMA over time or when exposed to heat.

Several cases have settled before trial for undisclosed amounts. The only previous case to go to trial ended with a verdict in favor of GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim in May.

The drugmakers have said the cases are meritless. They won a significant victory in 2022, when a Florida federal judge ruled against about 50,000 cases, finding that the alleged cancer link was not supported by sound science. Some of those cases are being appealed. (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)