
The British pharmaceutical company GSK has reached a private agreement to resolve another lawsuit in California that asserted that its abandoned heartburn medication Zantac caused cancer. This is the latest in a series of agreements that the company has reached in order to put an end to costly litigation.
A decision has been made to dismiss the case, whose trial was set to commence on April 2nd. GSK issued a statement stating that it does not acknowledge any liability in relation to the deal with Boyd/Steenvoord.
Since June of the previous year, Zantac has been the subject of similar settlements, including many in California. In the U.S., the states of California and Delaware continue to be the target of hundreds of lawsuits filed against GSK.
Due to the fact that California’s courts are regarded as being more accommodating to plaintiffs, the state is typically considered to have a more difficult legal environment pertaining to global corporations. The U.S. FDA removed every version of Zantac and generic copies of the medication from the market in 2020, which resulted in a flurry of legal actions.
The drug, which had been given the green light more than 40 years earlier, had become the most popular treatment in the world by 1988. It was also one of the very first medications to achieve annual sales of more than $1 billion.
It was expected by analysts that the entire settlement expenses for the company would be somewhere around $5 billion. The costs associated with these settlements have not yet been calculated by GSK.
This news comes only a few days after GSK’s gonorrhoea drug, gepotidacin, met its main objective of non-inferiority in a late stage study. The drug is currently in development for the treatment of adults and adolescents infected with the sexually transmitted illness, which is responsible for the rise in the risk of developing HIV and affects around 82 million new individuals throughout the world every year.
GSK reported that the research demonstrated that the safety and effectiveness of gepotidacin were not inferior to those of the combination treatment consisting of the antibiotic ceftriaxone, which is injected into the muscle, and azithromycin, a tablet that fights bacteria.
According to Chris Corsico, the SVP of development at GSK, the encouraging headline results indicate the possibility of gepotidacin serving as an innovative oral treatment alternative amidst increasing resistance. He highlighted its potential significance for patients who are cannot begin other treatments because of allergic reactions or intolerance.
The medication, which is a component of GSK’s lineup of infectious illnesses, is one of the new releases that is expected to improve its growth prospects and rebuild trust among investors in the company’s pharmaceuticals pipeline following the spin-off of Haleon, its consumer healthcare operation.
Last month, GSK increased its long-term sales growth objective, and the company now anticipates reaching revenues in excess of 38 billion pounds.