Benefits of Legal Loans for Zantac Plaintiffs

Staff Writer | November 22nd, 2019

Recently, a Florida resident brought a product liability lawsuit against drug manufacturers Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, and GlaxoSmithKline alleging that their products, Zantac and its generics, have contained unacceptably high levels of a proven carcinogen for more than three decades and that these levels caused the plaintiff to develop stomach cancer.

The drugs contain ranitidine, which metabolizes in the body to become N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a known carcinogen. The plaintiff, Philip McDonald, underwent both surgery and chemotherapy as treatment for cancer after using Zantac for six years. Zantac is prescribed for acid reflux and heartburn.

The suit alleges that the drug manufacturers knew or should have known about the effects of Zantac starting with its initial introduction in the 1980s and that they failed to warn the medical community and patients.

Recalls of Zantac

At least one pharmacy has petitioned the FDA to recall Zantac, citing the high levels of ranitidine and the risk of NDMA poisoning. Meanwhile, CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid have pulled Zantac from their shelves. While Zantac has been used for decades, only recently did researchers discover than the levels of NDMA are far higher than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends.

The FDA’s recommended guideline is 96 ng per day, but some Zantac tablets are believed to have as much as 3,000,000 ng of NDMA; 29,000 times the daily limit.

Contamination of various drugs with NDMA has been associated with reports of other cancers as well, including those of the bladder, stomach, kidney, small intestine, liver, and other digestive tract areas.

It is believed that the recent lawsuit may be joined by thousands of others as news of NDMA’s effects becomes more widespread and more affected plaintiffs bring claims.

How a Legal Loan Can Help

If you have developed cancer as a result of taking Zantac or a generic substitute and are bringing a legal claim against the drug manufacturers, you may be facing economic difficulties.

Cancer, after all, requires a great deal of medical care. Treatment can be extensive and expensive, and you may need it for extended periods of time. The bills may be piling up, causing stress and anxiety through no fault of your own.

Your illness may have affected your ability to work. As a result, you may be bringing less money into your household than you were once able to.

You may be suffering from the pain caused by your illness. You may also be suffering psychological effects such as depression and anxiety.

A successful legal suit can resolve at least the economic part of these difficulties. A product liability lawsuit, if successful, can compensate the victims for their medical bills (both already incurred and future), wages lost from work (both already lost and likely to be lost in the future), and for emotional pain and suffering.

For plaintiffs in these cases, sometimes it can feel like the deck is stacked against them. Legal cases can take a very long time to resolve. Drug manufacturers have deep pockets. They not only fight plaintiffs and declare themselves not guilty, they can appeal even if the plaintiffs win.

So what happens as your bills keep coming and your paycheck may be decreasing? Is there any solution?

Let Lawstreet Capital Help

There is. It’s called lawsuit funding.

Legal funding, also known as a legal loan, tides you over until your case is resolved. You can use it to pay any reasonable living expenses, such as your medical bills, pharmacy bills, groceries, utilities, and mortgage/rent.

If your case is successfully resolved, you pay the loan back at that time, on a monthly basis, with a reasonable interest rate added.

But if your case is not successful – if the drug companies win – you never have to pay the loan back. At all. Ever.

How can that be? Well, a legal loan is a type of loan known as non-recourse. Often, if you don’t pay a loan back, the lender can come after you to have you pay. Those types of loans are called “recourse.” Legal loans are not like that. You only have to pay the loan back if you win your case.

To receive legal funding, all you need to do is fill out a very simple online application. You can be approved with no credit check, in as little as 24 hours.

Don’t wait until your situation becomes unmanageable. Let Lawstreet Capital help with a legal loan today.M