AstraZeneca, Merck Nexium Claims Should Advance, Judge Says

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. should continue to face claims that they didn’t properly warn an Ohio man’s doctors about the risk of chronic kidney disease posed by their heartburn drug Nexium, but other claims should be cut, a federal judge in New Jersey said.

James Rieder’s case is set for trial in November and would be the first one in multidistrict litigation over Nexium and similar drugs known as proton-pump inhibitors. The suits were combined in 2017 in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey. Some 13,000 cases are pending.

Ohio law, ...