Michael Nevradakis

Amid tens of thousands of lawsuits that are pending in state courts all across the U.S., a new report based on evidence discovered in these court cases reveals Big Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) had, for decades, concealed evidence showing that Zantac could cause cancer.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, GSK — then known as Glaxo — had been aware of cancer- causing risks with ranitidine, the drug which was marketed as Zantac, even before it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1983. These warnings came from independent researchers but also from Glaxo scientists.

Within ve years, Zantac, used to treat or relieve heartburn, acid indigestion and gastric ulcers, became the world’s best-selling medicine and was one of the first to surpass $1 billion in annual sales, according to Reuters. GSK later sold the drug to Pfizer — and Zantac was then sold to Boehringer Ingelheim and nally Sano .

In 2019, an online pharmacy detected high levels of a potent carcinogen, NDMA, in Sano and its generic equivalents. This led to recalls, followed by a formal FDA withdrawal of the drug in 2020.