The firm is looking for long-term PPI users who have been diagnosed with stomach or kidney cancers.
Shine Lawyers is on the hunt for participants in a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of proton pump inhibitors, alleging a link between long-term use of the drugs and stomach cancer or tumours or chronic kidney disease.
In consultation with US firm Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman (Milberg), Shine is investigating PPIs which are commonly used to reduce stomach acidity to treat conditions like reflux, heartburn, morning sickness, GORD, gastric ulcers and other digestive disorders and symptoms.
The specific PPIs included in the class action are drugs containing esomeprazole, omeprazole, pantoprazole, rabeprazole), and lansoprazole.
Shine alleges that there is a link between the PPI drugs and serious health issues, including stomach cancer (such as gastric adenocarcinomas or neuroendocrine gastric tumours); and kidney damage (such as acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disorder, and kidney failure).
Related
Clients may be eligible for the class action lawsuit if they have taken any of the PPIs listed and have been diagnosed with any of the above conditions or are a dependent or an executor or beneficiary of the estate of a person who meets the criteria and has since died.
Eligibility is not affected by whether the drugs were prescribed by a doctor or bought over the counter.
PPIs work by suppressing acid production in the stomach, by reducing the potential for stomach acid reflux into the oesophagus, and by promoting the healing of inflammation and ulcers in the oesophagus and stomach.
Omeprazole has been listed on the PBS since 1 August 1990 and there have been over 21 million prescriptions dispensed for it since. The most recent PPI to be listed on the PBS was esomeprazole on 1 August 2002. Over 79 million scripts have been dispensed since.
Between 2013 and 2021, over 195 million prescriptions were dispensed for proton pump inhibitor medications in Australia.