Proactive Investors - GSK PLC (LON:GSK) shares opened higher after Delaware's Supreme Court said it will hear an appeal by the UK drug market and other pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Sanofi (EPA:SASY), and Boehringer Ingelheim, to dismiss over 70,000 lawsuits alleging that the discontinued heartburn drug Zantac causes cancer.
The companies argue that the scientific methods used by plaintiffs to link Zantac to cancer are unsound.
Broker Shore Capital said: "By no means does this news today clear the Zantac overhang, but we view this as another positive for GSK (and other defendants).
"We believe this helps to support the view that there is no reliable evidence that Zantac caused certain cancers and GSK has strong grounds to continue defending itself in ongoing litigation."
The lawsuits emerged after the US Food & Drug Administration, in 2020, requested the removal of Zantac from the market due to concerns that its active ingredient, ranitidine, could degrade into the carcinogen NDMA.
GSK said it remains committed to defending against these claims.
In early deals, the stock was up 1.17% at 1,637p.