Yost looking to co-lead lawsuit against company behind Zantac
Ohio & Mahoning Valley - Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is looking to get a lead role in a securities class-action lawsuit accusing GSK, the company behind the heartburn/acid reflux drug Zantac of not disclosing and even withholding the cancer risks of the drug.
On Monday, April 7 Yost filed a motion to have the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) appointed as co-lead plaintiff along with the Indiana Public Retirement System.
The lawsuit aims to seek damages for the investors of the drug who felt GSK was not being upfront with the drug's cancer risk potential that they had known about prior.
Zantac was at one point the bestselling drug in the world and was prescribed 15 million times annually following its introduction to the United States in 1983.
An internal study of the drug in 1982 showed that Zantac can break down into compounds linked with causing cancer called NDMA. Thirty-seven years later an independent lab brought this danger to light, causing a domino effect for both the company and its investors.
"The company knew about its product's link to cancer but kept it a secret for decades," Yost said. "The reckless cover-up had tragic health consequences for patients and caused serious financial harm for investors."
In 2020 the drug was removed from the market entirely following the discovery of cancer-causing compounds.
OPERS' losses total $14.6 million ever since the initial lawsuit involving Zantac that saw GSK pay over $2 billion between 80,000 plaintiffs.
This new lawsuit could have GSK paying another $10 billion due in part to the drug's cancer risk potential being realized causing $2.3 billion in shareholder value to be erased.
