GSK settles two California lawsuits related to heartburn drug Zantac

(Reuters) - British drugmaker GSK said on Wednesday it had agreed to settle two lawsuits in California that claimed its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer.

GSK does not admit to any liability in either settlement, it said in a statement.

The drugmaker has settled a series of lawsuits related to Zantac over the past 12 months, including several in California.

California is generally seen as a more challenging legal environment for multinational companies as courts are known to be friendlier to plaintiffs.

Former Zantac makers GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim are facing about 4,000 claims in California state court and about 2,000 in various other state courts around the country.

The bulk of the cases against GSK are in Delaware, where the British drugmaker faces more than 70,000 lawsuits.

A Delaware judge's decision in June to allow the lawsuits in the state to go forward dealt a blow to GSK, which appealed the decision.

Last month, the Delaware Supreme Court said it would hear the appeal by GSK and the other former Zantac makers.

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)