What Glaxo Knew About Zantac, New Model for the Car Business: A Week in Big Take

Feb. 18, 2023

In 2019 blockbuster heartburn drug Zantac was found to be tainted with high levels of a probable carcinogen. Not by chance or mistake in a few batches. The poison is created by the drug — ranitidine — itself. By the following year, the FDA forced it off the market altogether. No company could manufacture it; nobody should ingest it.

From ranitidine’s beginning to its end, Zantac’s drugmaker Glaxo had been warned by its own scientists and independent researchers about the potential danger.

In a sweeping investigation by Bloomberg Businessweek, new documents, studies and testimony show that the FDA considered the cancer risks when approving ranitidine — and that Glaxo sold a drug that might harm people, tried to discount evidence of that and never gave anyone the slightest warning. The company is now facing tens-of-thousands of lawsuits from consumers, the first of which could get underway this month. For its part, Glaxo says the medication doesn’t cause cancer. 

Shopping for a car has never been more expensive. The average price of a new vehicle is about $50,000, and used ones come in at $27,000. Prices don’t look to be leveling out anytime soon. Why? Carmakers have a new business strategy: Make fewer, more tricked out vehicles and sell them to the rich

Three years into the pandemic, business leaders and city officials around the world are still trying just about everything to lure employees back into offices and revive local economies. But new data on in-person work show that in a number of cities across the US, Fridays at the office are dead. Mondays are a crapshoot. And returning to pre-pandemic work schedules looks like a lost cause. Just how much is it costing cities? For New York, the number comes out to a whopping $12.4 billion

Whether Americans are ready or not, the 2024 presidential race is officially underway. Some Republicans are ready to ditch former President Donald Trump, who’s running again. Nikki Haley threw her hat in the ring this week. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sure looks like he is preparing for a run. And some Democrats are expressing concern that at age 80, President Joe Biden might not be up for a grueling campaign. Bloomberg News’s political experts join Wes Kosova to talk elections on The Big Take podcast

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