What's your poison?

Around 70,000 people are claiming their cancer was caused by the heartburn remedy Zantac, which contained high levels of NDMA, a powerful carcinogen

-  Bryan Hubbard

A powerful cancer-causing compound has been discovered in 10 prescription drugs. More than 70,000 people who believe they developed cancer while taking one of the drugs— the heartburn remedy Zantac—have filed lawsuits in US courts.

The compounds are nitrosamines, identified in the 1970s as the most potent carcinogens yet discovered. They have been found in batches of some of the world’s most prescribed drugs, including the antihypertensives Avapro (irbesartan) and Cozaar (losartan), the antidiabetic medication Glucophage (metformin), and the stop-smoking aid Chantix (varenicline).

Nitrosamines were detected in batches of the antihypertensive Diovan (valsartan) in 2018, and a year later, the same online pharmacy discovered high levels of NDMA (N-nitrosodimethylamine), a form of nitrosamine, in every batch of Zantac (ranitidine) it tested. It alerted the US’s drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which banned the drug in 2020.

Even before the ban was imposed, around 12 countries had already pulled Zantac from stores, and GSK had stopped manufacturing it.

It was quite a fall for a drug that in the 1980s had been the world’s best-seller, achieving more than $1 billion in sales every year. The ban was extended to any drug that had ranitidine as its active ingredient, and there have also been 250 voluntary nitrosamine-related recalls since then.

Prove it 

Ranitidine is linked to at least 10 cancers, and people who have lodged lawsuits have reported developing cancers of the bladder, esophagus, liver, pancreas and stomach. Many of the cases are from army veterans who developed cancer after taking Zantac, which was routinely handed out to US armed forces.