Zantac was approved as a prescription drug in the United States in 1983. Zantac became one of the best-selling drugs in pharmaceutical history, with over 15 million prescriptions filled per year, and millions more purchased the name brand and generic version in an over the counter format each year. It was the first medication to reach $1 billion in annual U.S. sales. The drugmakers made a fortune for a very long time.

Over time, there became a trend of Zantac users developing various forms of cancer, which prompted studies of the drug. It was determined that Zantac contained N-Nitrosodimethylamine (“NDMA”), which is an unstable organic chemical that is usually is created unintentionally as a byproduct of certain industrial processes. NDMA is very toxic to the human body, specifically the liver, and it has been recognized to cause cancer in humans since the 1970s. Parts of NDMA are components of many dangerous items, such as rocket fuel. The drug manufacturers knew that NDMA causes cancer and aggressively marketed for millions of Americans to ingest rocket fuel and cancer pills for their own financial gain.

In September 2019, the FDA announced that it had conducted tests on ranitidine, which is the generic part of the Zantac drug. The FDA’s laboratory tests found NDMA in ranitidine medications. The FDA ultimately issued a voluntary recall on Zantac.