First approved in 1983, Zantac became the world's best- selling medicine in 1988 and one of the first-ever drugs to top $1 billion in annual sales. Originally marketed by a forerunner of GSK, it was later sold successively to Pfizer, Boehringer and finally to Sanofi.
In 2019, some manufacturers and pharmacies halted Zantac sales after NDMA was detected in some pills. Some tests showed that
Zantac's active ingredient, ranitidine, could degrade into NDMA over time or when exposed to heat.
Lawsuits began piling up from people who said they developed cancer after taking Zantac. Plaintiffs said the companies knew, or should have known, that ranitidine posed a cancer risk and that they failed to warn consumers.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked manufacturers to pull the drug off the market in 2020.
Sanofi now sells Zantac360, a reformulated heartburn medicine whose active ingredient is famotidine.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/sanofi-settle-4000-zantac-cancer-lawsuits-us-state-courts-2024-04-03/#:~:text=NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters,financial terms of the deal.