Federal Judge Updates The Schedule For Selecting Zantac Cancer Bellwether Cases

Medical records and family history of cancer will be recorded before a case is submitted for bellwether consideration

Friday, October 22, 2021 - Federal Judge Robin Rosenberg presiding in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, over the Zantac lawsuits in multidistrict litigation has filed an updated set of deadlines to govern selecting the first set of plaintiffs whose cases will go to trial in 2023. More than 100,000 people have registered their intent to file lawsuits against Sanofi, Pfizer, Boehringer, and others, the makers of Zantac heartburn and acid reflux medicine, alleging that it caused their cancer. During the two to three-year MDL stage, cases are organized in MDL to streamline the discovery process and avoid repetitive administrative procedures. MDL is different than a class-action lawsuit and is preferred in cases that involve hundreds or thousands of plaintiffs that have similar injuries from using the same device or taking the same medication. A class-action lawsuit has been filed to reimburse former Zantac users for the cost of the medicine. Judge Rosenberg, is asking each plaintiff's lawyer to submit several cases for consideration to be representative of their clientele's ranitidine use and injuries. The judge will review the heartburn medicine cancer cases and select several personal injury bellwether plaintiffs from those cases currently filed in MDL.

According to the latest memorandum filed by the court, the proposed bellwether plaintiffs must have been diagnosed with at least one of the following ten specific types of cancer. "Bladder Cancer; Breast Cancer; Colorectal Cancer; Esophageal Cancer; Gastric (Stomach/Intestinal) Cancer; Kidney Cancer; Liver Cancer; Lung Cancer; Pancreatic Cancer; and Prostate Cancer," as per the judge's order, as have been mentioned before. The proposed bellwether plaintiff must also reside in Florida. Plaintiff attorneys have until December 20 to submit a list of their expert witnesses that will testify to the effect that taking Zantac regularly for many years is responsible for causing the disease. Once the plaintiffs have been selected for the initial plaintiff pool, their attorneys must submit the following medical information to the court. From November 20 to December 15, plaintiffs must provide information about the following: primary healthcare physician(s); gastroenterologist(s); ranitidine- prescribing physician(s), if applicable; physician diagnosing alleged cancer; and treating oncologist(s)."

As the selection of bellwether Zantac cancer cases moves forward in 2022 and beyond, plaintiffs will have to deal with lawsuits against them stemming from their accusing generic manufacturers of ranitidine of the same negligence as brand names like Zantac. The MDL judge ruled that a class action lawsuit may proceed brought by the generic ranitidine manufacturers to reimburse defendants for the cost of having to defend themselves against the allegations that the judge ordered be dismissed. Zantac cancer plaintiffs will have an uphill battle trying to prove that ranitidine is an inherently unstable molecule that naturally degrades into N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) when exposed to high temperatures. Another hurdle plaintiffs will have to overcome is the questionable methods that online prescription drug testing pharmacy Valisure used to initially discover elevated levels of NDMA in Zantac. Experts believe that Valisure modified the existing FDA NDMA testing procedures to include heating the samples of the medicine so high as to become the source of the NDMA spike in and of itself.

More Recent Heartburn MedicineLawsuit News:

• Zantac Cancer Trials Are In Discovery To Begin In October 2022 | 7/19/2022
• Zantac Cancer Lawsuits Could Hinge On The Validity of Ranitidine Testing Methods | 7/11/2022
• Zantac Cancer Bellwether Trials In California Could Set The Stage For A Global Settlement Offer | 7/5/2022
• The FDA Recommended Protein Pump Inhibitor Drugs Like Prilosec And Nexium That May Damage Health More Than Zantac | 6/23/2022
• Truck Drivers, Firefighters, and Police Officers May Have Taken More Zantac Than People In Other Occupations | 6/20/2022

Lawyers for Zantac Heartburn Medicine Lawsuits

OnderLaw, LLC is a St. Louis personal injury law firm handling serious injury and death claims across the country. Its mission is the pursuit of justice, no matter how complex the case or strenuous the effort. The Onder Law Firm has represented clients throughout the United States in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation such as Pradaxa, Lexapro and Yasmin/Yaz, where the firm's attorneys held significant leadership roles in the litigation, as well as Actos, DePuy, Risperdal and others. The Onder Law Firm has won more than $300 million in four talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits in St. Louis. Law firms throughout the nation often seek its experience and expertise on complex litigation.