The 89-year-old suburban Chicago woman who claims a popular heartburn drug caused her colon cancer detailed on Thursday in a Cook County courtroom how her diagnosis and subsequent health issues derailed her life.
Angela Valadez, suing the drugmakers GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim, testified she used Zantac, the heartburn drug, for 18 years. Following her cancer diagnosis and surgery, she says she’s dealt with uncontrollable diarrhea, which has prevented her from leading “a normal life.”
Her suit alleges that the drug’s active ingredient, called ranitidine, turns into a cancer-causing substance called NDMA as it ages.
Valadez’s suit, one of thousands against the drugmakers, is the first to make it to jury trial. In December 2022, a federal judge in Florida dismissed roughly 50,000 claims because “no scientist outside this litigation” concluded the drug causes cancer.
Valadez, who lives in Brookfield, said she started taking Zantac during a stressful period of her life in late 1996 and early 1997.
“I got heartburn real bad,” she told jurors. “I was suffering all the time.”
Then, after seeing an ad for Zantac on TV, she decided to try it. And it started to provide her relief.
“I took it every day because it worked, and it was the only thing that worked for me,” Valadez said.
She said she initially only took the name-brand version but later started taking the generic version on occasion because it was cheaper.
Throughout her testimony, Valadez was sometimes confused or could not remember events.
Both Mikal Watts, one of Valadez’s attorneys, and one of the attorneys for the defense also pointed out that Valadez had been inconsistent about the period of time she took the drug during depositions made ahead of the trial.
During the defense’s questioning, Valadez said she could not remember when she started taking the generic version, or ranitidine. TaCara Harris, representing Boehringer Ingelheim, also said that Valadez, during sworn depositions, reported multiple different time frames for when she took the heartburn drug.
Watts clarified with Valadez that she believes she took the drug for 18 years from 1996 to 2014.
In 2015, at 80 years old, Valadez was diagnosed with colon cancer after receiving her first colonoscopy. She underwent surgery to remove the cancer that year and has remained cancer-free since.
In the years after her diagnosis and surgery, she said she’s dealt with uncontrollable diarrhea. Walking her through a timeline from 2015 to the present, Watts asked Valadez to detail multiple times when she lost control of her bowels while in public.
She repeatedly told the jury how humiliating and embarrassing those incidents were and how she is still forced to stay at home most days out of fear of having an accident. She often wears adult diapers and takes a diarrhea medication.
“It’s so embarrassing to talk about,” she said. “I can’t even live a normal life, I can’t go anywhere, I can’t do anything. It’s terrible.”
Though Watts focused on the years following her cancer diagnosis, Harris pointed out that Valadez said her stomach pain and diarrhea started before she found out she had colon cancer.
Harris also asked Valadez, “Prior to filing this lawsuit, no doctor told you Zantac caused your cancer?” and “Prior to filing this lawsuit, no doctor told you your diarrhea was related to your cancer?” Valadez answered no to both.
Harris also focused on Valadez’s Zantac use. Of the 20,000 medical records submitted for the trial, Harris said only one mentions that Valadez took ranitidine. A July 2011 doctor’s note says she tried taking the heartburn drug Mylanta, baking soda and ranitidine, but her acid reflux persisted.
Harris also said the warning label on Zantac tells the consumer to see a doctor if heartburn continues or worsens and to stop using the drug after 14 days. Valadez testified she took the drug daily for 18 years.
Toward the end of his questioning, Watts asked Valadez why she pursued the lawsuit.
“Because I suffered a lot,” Valadez said. “Because if Zantac caused my cancer, i don’t think it’s right that they get away with it.”
