Cancer stimulating heartburn drug

The company that makes Zantac has hidden the risk of cancer for over 40 years.

Bloomberg points out that the British pharmaceutical company Glaxo, which makes Zantac, a drug used to treat heartburn and stomach ulcers, has been hiding its dangers for more than 40 years.

According to the agency, the company, which has been producing since 1978, knew that the active ingredient ranitidine in the drug releases a strong carcinogen N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in the body, but hid the test results and did not withdraw the drug from pharmacies. .

The agency points out that Zantac was at one time the world’s best-selling prescription drug, the company was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Award, and its CEO, Andrew Whitty, was awarded a knighthood.

But after discovering the severity of ranitidine in 2019, the company began withdrawing the drug from markets around the world, and in 2020 banned its production and circulation in the world.

But pharmacists claim that the increased risk of cancer due to Zantac is not scientifically proven, and these assumptions are just assumptions.

Bloomberg notes that NDMA has previously been added to rocket fuel and is now used to stimulate cancer in laboratory mice. Test results showed that a small dose of this substance is not dangerous, but ranitidine contains a high percentage of it and increases with time.

Source: Izvestia newspaper.