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Hung jury in latest Zantac cancer trial in Chicago

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Boehringer Ingelheim only defendant after settlements with

GSK,

Pfizer ( PFE )

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FDA pulled Zantac in 2020 over NDMA carcinogen concerns

(Updates Sept 18 story with statement from Boehringer Ingelheim

in paragraph 5)

By Brendan Pierson

Sept 18 (Reuters) - The latest trial over claims that

the discontinued heartburn drug Zantac causes cancer ended with

a hung jury on Wednesday, as jurors in Chicago were unable to

agree on whether Boehringer Ingelheim must pay damages to an

Illinois man who said he developed prostate cancer as a result

of taking the drug, according to the man's lawyer.

It was the second time a jury failed to reach a verdict at

trial during the ongoing wave of litigation over the

now-discontinued drug.

"We appreciate the jury's careful consideration," Eric

Olson, a lawyer for plaintiff Ronald Kimbrow, said in an email.

"Boehringer Ingelheim has now twice failed to convince a jury

that Zantac was safe."

He said the case would go to trial again.

"We are pleased that, once again, plaintiffs have failed to

convince another jury of the merits of their baseless claims

regarding Zantac," Boehringer Ingelheim said in a statement.

The privately held German drugmaker was the only defendant

at the trial in Cook County Circuit Court, after plaintiff

Ronald Kimbrow settled with others including GSK, which

originally developed the drug, and Pfizer ( PFE ).

Kimbrow, 73, said he took Zantac from 1995 to 2019.

Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, Pfizer ( PFE ) and Sanofi all

sold brand name Zantac at various times since it was approved in

1983, and have been named in tens of thousands of lawsuits over

the alleged cancer link.

The litigation began after the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration in 2020 asked manufacturers to pull the drug off

the market over concerns that its active ingredient, ranitidine,

could degrade into NDMA, a carcinogen, over time or when exposed

to heat.

Three lawsuits over Zantac had previously gone to trial, all

in Illinois, with two ending in verdicts for the defense and one

with a hung jury.

The drugmakers won a significant victory in 2022, when a

federal judge in Florida rejected the plaintiffs' expert

witnesses for about 50,000 cases that had been centralized in

her court on the grounds that they did not use reliable

scientific methods. Without those witnesses, the cases could not

go forward, though some plaintiffs are appealing.

The Delaware Supreme Court last month said it would consider

drugmakers' bid to keep similar expert testimony out of court in

that state, where more than 70,000 lawsuits - the vast majority

of the remaining litigation - have been brought. A lower court

judge refused to exclude the experts, allowing the cases to go

forward.

Sanofi has agreed to settle about 4,000 cases against it,

while Pfizer ( PFE ) has reportedly agreed to settle more than 10,000.