Aug 5 (Reuters) - GSK won the latest trial over

claims that discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, as

a jury on Monday found that the drug was not responsible for an

Illinois woman's illness, a company spokesperson said.

Carrie Joiner had alleged in her lawsuit in state court in

Chicago that she developed colorectal cancer from a carcinogenic

contaminant called NDMA found in the once-blockuster drug.

A lawyer for Joiner did not immediately respond to a request

for comment.

Zantac was sold at different times by GSK, Pfizer ( PFE ),

Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim. First approved by

U.S. regulators in 1983, it became the world's best-selling

medicine in 1988 and one of the first to top $1 billion in

annual sales.

The companies collectively are facing thousands of lawsuits

against them in courts across the United States.

The majority of those are in Delaware state court, where a

judge in June allowed more than 70,000 cases to go forward after

rejecting the defendants' bid to keep key plaintiffs' expert

witnesses out of court on the grounds that their scientific

methods were not reliable. The companies are appealing that

ruling.

The lawsuits began piling up after the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration in 2020 asked manufacturers to pull the drug off

the market over concerns that ranitidine, the active ingredient

in Zantac and generic versions of the drug, could degrade into

NDMA over time or when exposed to heat.

Several cases have settled before trial for undisclosed

amounts. The only previous case to go to trial ended with a

verdict in favor of GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim in May.

The drugmakers have said the cases are meritless. They won a

significant victory in 2022, when a Florida federal judge ruled

against about 50,000 cases, finding that the alleged cancer link

was not supported by sound science. Some of those cases are

being appealed.