(Finance) – The substantial reductions of some pharmaceutical giants on the prospect of having to shell out billions following Zantac trials, a drug that contains ranitidine, a substance that reduces the amount of acid in the stomach. Zantac, distributed by various multinationals, became the best-selling drug in the world in 1988 and one of the first drugs ever to exceed $ 1 billion in annual sales. In recent years it has been withdrawn by numerous health authorities for the suspicion of carcinogenic effects.
The prospect of a drug litigation is not new, but it has become a hot topic among analysts and investors recently. Among the influencing factors is the fact that the risk of legal action was mentioned in the listing prospectus from Haleon. GSK’s former Consumer Healthcare division went public last month on the London Stock Exchange.
Also, Tuesday UBS has downgraded the title Sanofi to “Neutral“from” Buy “also citing the litigation involving Zantac. More than 2,000 lawsuits related to Zantac have been filed in the United States, with the first trial starting shortly. Deutsche Bank he said he is not expecting another glyphosate case, but “it is very likely that we could see a liability of a few billion dollars“.” I think the panic is reduced to market psychology rather than having discovered something new, “he wrote instead Barclays.
Today a spokesperson for Haleon told Reuters that the company is not primarily responsible of any complaint. “We have never marketed Zantac in any form in the United States, like Haleon or GSK’s Consumer Healthcare,” she said.
Deep red closure for GSK, which at the end of today’s session on the London Stock Exchange recorded a negative percentage change of 10.06%. In sharp decline Sanofi, which closed the session with a -8.18%. Discount also broken down for Haleon, which closed the session with a deadweight loss of 4.90% on previous values. The losses had also been substantial yesterday.