PPI Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Newark, NJA wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against AstraZeneca, Merck & Co., Procter & Gamble and other manufacturers of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drugs. Plaintiff Daisy Perez claims her husband, a New Mexico man, died of metastatic gastric cancer after taking Nexium and Prilosec.

Daisy Perez filed the lawsuit April 1, 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, where it will be consolidated with over 13,000 Nexium lawsuits and Prilosec lawsuits. In the “short form complaint” filed in the MDL, Mrs. Perez is seeking damages on behalf of herself and the Estate of Domingo Perez.

(The short form complaint adopts allegations and claims from a “Master Long Form Complaint” that is filed in the MDL. After the common fact discovery phase engaged by both parties, a small group of bellwether cases will be prepared.)

Most of those PPI lawsuits involve serious kidney issues associated with the medications, including acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease and end state renal failure, but PPI gastric cancer lawsuits are on the rise, according to aboutlawsuits.com.

PPI Drugs and Gastric Cancer Death

This isn’t the first wrongful death PPI lawsuit for AstraZeneca. Along with Merck, the drug company faced a similar lawsuit filed just two months prior to the Perez allegations. Mario DeSouza filed a wrongful death lawsuit also in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, claiming his wife died from stomach cancer and related complications caused by Nexium side effects.

DeSouza claims the drug manufacturers knew Nexium was defective and unreasonably dangerous drug for treatment of heartburn and acid reflux, yet did not adequately warn about the link between Nexium and cancer. Lisa Marie DeSouza used Nexium for about 10 years, until she developed gastric cancer in 2019.

According to court documents, plaintiffs’ lawyers argue that Nexium and Prilosec are defective and unreasonably dangerous and the manufacturers, including AstraZeneca, Proctor & Gamble, and Pfizer,

• Were negligent in the production of the drug.
• Failed to properly test the medication, and failed to warn doctors and patients of certain risks.
• Concealed evidence of the dangers from the government and the public, and misrepresented the safety of the drug in its marketing material.

Since 2017, PPI drugs have been associated with serious kidney risks. More recently studies have shown that consumers who take multiple daily doses for a long period of time (a year or longer), especially those 50 years of age or older, have an increased risk of fractures of the hip, wrist, and spine. As well, people who use the drugs appear to have a 20-50% higher risk of chronic kidney disease compared with nonusers, and a 20-30% increased risk for stroke. The most serious side effects linked to use of Nexium and Prilosec are strokes, bone fractures, acute kidney injury, renal failure, and heart damage. And death.

Proton Pump Inhibitor MDL and Bellwether Trials

As of January 2020, 1,340 proton pump inhibitor lawsuits were pending in federal court — out of a total of 15,164 that had been filed. In August 2017 a judicial panel combined the cases into a multidistrict litigation, or MDL. U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi is presiding over the MDL and the coordination of all discovery and federal pretrial proceedings. Judge Cecchi said the first in a series of PPI bellwether trials will begin November 15, 2021, with additional trials to likely start in early 2022.

Last year, Judge Cecchi released a case management order indicating parties would narrow down the bellwether pool to six cases by November 9, 2020. These cases would then go through expert discovery in preparation to go before juries in November of 2021, with additional trials likely to continue in early 2022.

This wrongful death case is RE: PROTON-PUMP INHIBITOR PRODUCTS LIABILITY LITIGATION. Domingo S. Perez, Deceased v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, et al. Docket No.: 2:21-cvMDL No. 2789(CCC)(MF) Case No.: 2:17-md-2789.