Zantac MDL Judge Dismisses Negligence Claims Against Retailers, Distributors

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida federal judge has dismissed retailers and distributors from the Zantac (ranitidine) multidistrict litigation, finding the plaintiffs have failed to adequately allege the defendants improperly stored the drugs during transit, causing them to heat up and become carcinogenic.

In a June 30 order dismissing the claims with prejudice, Judge Robin L. Rosenberg of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida explained plaintiffs have not pled any concrete act of negligence, “such as an overheated warehouse in South Florida or a hot delivery truck in the Arizona desert.”

“Instead, the …