British pharmaceutical giant GSK has announced it will pay up to $2.2 billion (£1.68 billion) to settle thousands of cases in US courts over allegations that a discontinued version of its drug for heartburn, Zantac, is said to have caused cancer.
The firm announced it has reached agreements with 10 law firms representing approximately 80,000 claimants. Settlements account for 93% of all cases.
GSK will also pay $70 million to resolve a lawsuit filed by a laboratory that accused the drugmaker of defrauding the U.S. government by concealing the cancer risks of Zantac.
GSK has not admitted any wrongdoing in any of the cases.
The company said in an investor statement that the settlements “remove significant financial uncertainty, risk and distraction associated with protracted litigation.”
Zantac was first approved for sale in the United States in 1983.
Within five years, it was the best-selling drug in the world, with annual sales exceeding $1 billion.
In 2020, U.S. regulators pulled Zantac from shelves over concerns that a key ingredient, ranitidine, could turn into a substance that could cause cancer when exposed to heat.
This decision led to tens of thousands of lawsuits against the drug's manufacturers.
The previous year, British doctors were ordered to stop prescribing four types of Zantac as a “precautionary measure”.
This followed concerns in several countries that the products could contain an impurity linked to cancer.
In addition to being sold by GSK, the drug has also been marketed by other major pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Both Pfizer and Sanofi agreed to settle their cases.
Boehringer Ingelheim is an exception. He has not announced any major settlements.
A drug called Zantac 360, which does not contain ranidine, is still on sale.
