Posted on December 7, 2022 at 0:17
NEW YORK (Agefi-Dow Jones)–New York-listed Sanofi (ADR) shares jumped more than 8% Tuesday after a U.S. court ruled that thousands of side-effect claims were dismissed.
Several laboratories marketed Zantac for decades, first on prescription and then over the counter, before its withdrawal from the market decided in 2020 by the American health authorities. Since then, thousands of patients have accused the drug, used in particular for ulcers, of being carcinogenic. But a Florida federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the available scientific data does not support these claims.
“No scientist outside of this proceeding has concluded that ranitidine causes cancer,” Judge Robin Rosenberg wrote in his ruling, using the generic name Zantac. The more than 300-page decision issued Tuesday also criticizes the methodology of the scientists cited by the plaintiffs to support their claims.
This announcement marks a significant victory for the pharmaceutical companies involved in the commercialization of Zantac over the years. British lab GSK’s ADR jumped 7.9% in New York on Tuesday. Haleon, a former joint venture between GSK and Pfizer, also gained 7.7%.
Other legal proceedings are underway in various US states and the civil parties rejected in the first instance by the federal justice should appeal this decision, but the prospect of a heavy fine for the groups concerned is far away.
“Christmas has come early for the defendants in the Zantac case,” SVB Securities analyst David Risinger said in a statement released on Tuesday.
-Josh Nathan-Kazis, Barron’s (French version Thomas Varela)
Agefi-Dow Jones The Financial News
Dow Jones Newswires
December 06, 2022 6:17 PM ET (11:17 PM GMT)
