Nexium Lawsuit

AstraZeneca agreed in October 2023 to pay $425 million to settle pending Prilosec and Nexium lawsuits in a federal multidistrict litigation. This MDL contains mostly Prilosec and Nexium lawsuits, along with a smaller number of claims about Prevacid. 

Our legal partners are currently not accepting Nexium lawsuit cases, but we will continue to provide any relevant updates we garner from our partners or our research below.

Many attorneys have stopped accepting these claims because of the AstraZeneca settlement. Though so far, other companies in the MDL haven’t yet finalized a settlement for the other PPI drugs.

People who filed Nexium lawsuits claimed the drug can cause chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney failure, according to our legal partners and our court document research. Plaintiffs alleged drugmaker AstraZeneca knew since the early 2000s that its medication could harm people’s kidneys. Despite knowing the dangers, the company marketed Nexium as safe and effective.

We analyzed one Nexium lawsuit filed by Harry Mason. According to this case, “Defendants had received numerous case reports of kidney injuries in patients that had ingested Nexium by as early as 2004. These reports of numerous kidney injuries put Defendants on notice as to the excessive risks of kidney injuries related to the use of Nexium.”

AstraZeneca also faces similar allegations in Prilosec lawsuits. These proton pump inhibitor cases are consolidated in the same New Jersey multidistrict litigation as Nexium cases.

Injuries Named in Nexium Lawsuits

Injuries outlined in Nexium lawsuits center around kidney injury, according to our legal partners. We had received criteria from them when they used to take these cases. Studies show long-term use of Nexium, Prilosec and other proton pump inhibitors can cause kidney problems.

PPI lawsuits alleged studies of Nexium and other proton pump inhibitors show an association with a “20% to 50% higher risk of incident chronic kidney disease.” AstraZeneca continued to say Nexium posed no risks to kidneys.

These injuries can be serious. For example, in our review of Harry Mason’s case, we found he suffered kidney failure after Nexium use and required a kidney transplant. Other proton pump inhibitor lawsuits are also pending against the makers of Prevacid in a multidistrict litigation in New Jersey.

In October 2023, AstraZeneca agreed to a $425 million settlement to resolve about 11,000 U.S. lawsuits that accused its heartburn medications Nexium and Prilosec of causing chronic kidney disease.

Depending on the severity of kidney injuries, we’ve seen that lawyers estimate Nexium settlement payouts could range from $20,000 for minor injuries to $150,000 for more serious injuries. However, this doesn’t guarantee an exact settlement amount for anyone. We caution plaintiffs who look at these general predictions as a guarantee. Your lawyer is the best person to ask when it comes to determining settlement amounts.

In other settlement developments unrelated to personal injury claims, AstraZeneca paid a $34 million Nexium settlement in 2015 to resolve kickback allegations brought against it by the U.S. Department of Justice. DOJ officials alleged AstraZeneca paid a pharmacy-benefits company to keep Nexium’s “sole and exclusive” status on medications to be prescribed.

Our research has shown that the most recent kidney injury lawsuits weren’t the first to be filed against Nexium. Previously, consumers filed Nexium bone injury lawsuits against AstraZeneca. Plaintiffs claimed the drug caused loss of bone density, bone deterioration and bone fractures, according to court documents we examined.

One of the plaintiffs we read about, Ginny Begin, snapped a leg while walking. She alleged this occurred because Nexium interfered with her ability to absorb calcium, thereby speeding up bone loss.

“Despite knowing Nexium causes bones to severely deteriorate and break, AstraZeneca marketed and sold Nexium without warning consumers of the significant risks of bone deterioration and fractures. [Ginny] Begin continues to suffer severe pain from leg and ankle injuries that never fully healed,” her attorney Jason A. Gibson said in a press release from 2011.

In December 2012, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation created a PPI litigation MDL in the Central District of California to merge Nexium bone injury lawsuits representing more than 1,000 plaintiffs.

But in October 2014, U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer entered judgment in favor of defendants AstraZeneca and McKesson Corporations and against all plaintiffs. According to our research, the court questioned the reliability of the expert testimony and said without it, the plaintiffs could not establish their cases. We’ve seen this happen in other MDLs like the Mirena MDL, for example. Judges threw out key experts, and it left plaintiffs without evidence they needed to continue litigation.

The Nexium bone fracture plaintiffs appealed, but on Jan. 4, 2017, MDL-2404 IN RE: Nexium (Esomeprazole) Products Liability Litigation officially closed, according to our research on the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation website.

Stricter Warnings & Undisclosed Settlement

Still, we found some plaintiffs were successful in Nexium cases, including a class-action suit from 2014 that forced the FDA to require stricter warnings on the labels of Nexium and other proton pump inhibitors. Because of this case, Nexium labels now clearly state reduced bone density and risk of bone fractures are a possible severe side effect.

Also in 2014, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company reached a settlement in Prevacid lawsuits that claimed a link between the drug and bone fractures. But the amount remains undisclosed. In our experience, it’s not uncommon for defendants to settle confidentially.

For example, one of the settled Prevacid lawsuits we reviewed was filed by David S. Tatum of Philadelphia. He sued Takeda in 2012, claiming that the company failed to warn him about the drug’s ability to weaken his bone structure and cause fractures. As a result of taking Prevacid, Tatum’s bones weakened so much that he required a hip replacement, according to the complaint.

A judge dismissed the case in March 2014, stating the issues between the parties had been settled.

We haven’t found any recalls related to Nexium and kidney injuries. But in 2020, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories recalled 1,752 bottles of its generic, esomeprazole, because of discoloration.

In 2015, AstraZeneca recalled more than >34,000 bottles of Nexium after a retail pharmacist found another drug, Seroquel, in an unopened bottle.

We’ve also reported on NDMA contamination from Zantac, another drug used to control stomach acid.

Fortunately, PPIs were not recalled for contamination with this cancer-causing chemical. Zantac made with ranitidine was recalled in 2019 and pulled off the market in 2020 because of NDMA contamination. NDMA is classified as a probable carcinogen in humans.