AstraZeneca, Merck Fail to Show Nexium Lawsuit Filed Too Late

Nexium makers AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. failed to show that an Ohio resident’s suit alleging the heartburn drug caused his chronic kidney disease was untimely, and the companies should keep facing the litigation, a special master assigned to the federal case in New Jersey recommended.

James Rieder’s trial is set for November and would be the first test trial in multidistrict litigation over Nexium and similar drugs. The suits were combined in 2017 in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey.

The drugmakers argued Rieder’s suit, filed Jan. 21, 2019, was barred ...