GSK settles another heartburn drug lawsuit in Illinois

(Reuters) -British drugmaker GSK said on Monday it has agreed to confidentially settle a lawsuit in Illinois that alleged its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, the latest in a series of settlements to end costly litigation.

First approved in 1983, Zantac, sold at different times by GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim, became the world's best-selling medicine in 1988 and one of the first to top $1 billion in annual sales.

The companies together are facing thousands of petitions against them including more than 70,000 lawsuits in Delaware.

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, an active ingredient in the drug, could degrade into a cancer-causing chemical over time or when exposed to heat.

GSK did not admit any liability and said it would vigorously defend itself in any other Zantac cases.

The company's shares were up 0.8% in the early trade.

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong and Shanima A in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Eileen Soreng)