Retailers & Pharmacies Excluded From Zantac MDL

Introduction

A Florida federal judge has ordered to exclude the pharmacies and retailers in Zantac multidistrict litigation by stating that the Zantac manufacturers are to be blamed for carcinogen forming in the drug.

Walgreen Co., The Kroger Co., Albertsons Cos. Inc., CVS Pharmacy Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp., Amazon.com Inc., and a few companies are freed from the Zantac claims as ordered by the U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg.

The consumers alleged that the retailers, pharmacies, and distributors were negligent while storing Zantac, which resulted in forming of carcinogen in the drug, which is harmful to the users. Whereas the retailers and pharmacies argued that they were not responsible for carcinogens found in Zantac, even Judge Robin L. Rosenberg agreed with the retailers and pharmacies by rejecting the consumers' appeal.

The judge said that the defendants involved in the lawsuits are large companies, and the court requires at least one concrete allegation of the breach to support the claim of a systematic failure of the manufacturers in Zantac litigation.

The judge even said that the court didn't restrict the plaintiffs from investigating if the defendants had deliberately exposed the drug to heat or failed to maintain the required parameters while storing it.

Sanofi SA, Pfizer Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., and GlaxoSmithKline PLC are some of the major defendants involved in the Zantac MDL, along with generic-drug makers, retailers, distributors, and active pharmaceutical ingredient makers. All of them face similar claims of false advertising, failure to warn, and other claims regarding NDMA in the medication.

In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration detected traces of NDMA in Zantac and issued a warning to the manufacturers. In 2020, the agency mandated to put a label on the products stating that storing the drug in higher temperatures can result in higher levels of the carcinogen.

Comments