FDA Adverse Events Reports (FAERS) Summary for ZANTAC
These tables and charts are based on 365,018 total reports for ZANTAC (RANITIDINE HYDROCHLORIDE) received by the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) from 2004 through July 30, 2026.
This FAERS total includes 363,526 pharmaceutical company-submitted and non-U.S. FAERS reports and 1,492 U.S. consumer or healthcare provider-submitted
MedWatch reports. Adverse events listed on this page represent serious and sometimes rare adverse events
reported to pharmaceutical companies, and often do not represent typical side
effects for the medication. Find common side effects in the most recent
official drug label.
For a separate summary of the 1,492 U.S. reports
filed via the FDA MedWatch voluntary reporting system, view our FDA MedWatch ZANTAC summary report.
(See notes section below for explanation of FDA’s mandatory and voluntary reporting system.)
Top 20 Adverse Effects Associated with ZANTAC (reported in FAERS Database) Latest Known Outcomes for Reactions Reported for ZANTAC
Based on 202540 reports that included a patient age.
Side Effect # of FDA Reports 1 PROSTATE CANCER 46398 2 COLORECTAL CANCER 34673 3 BREAST CANCER 30737 4 BLADDER CANCER 30671 5 KIDNEY CANCER 30077 6 ESOPHAGEAL CANCER 20289 7 GASTRIC CANCER 14672 8 HEPATIC CANCER 12894 9 PANCREATIC CANCER 11346 10 LUNG NEOPLASM MALIGNANT 11050 11 CANCER MALIGNANT 8640 12 BREAST CANCER 7764 13 BREAST CANCER 7555 14 BREAST CANCER STAGE II 6444 15 CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE 5859 16 PAIN 5794 17 GASTROINTESTINAL CARCINOMA 5297 18 THYROID CANCER 4940 19 DRUG INEFFECTIVE 4857 20 ANXIETY 4710 Latest Known Outcome for Reported Reactions Number of Cases 1 Unknown Outcome 286052 2 Patient has not recovered/symtoms have not resolved 39741 3 Patient died 21387 4 Patient recovered 15112 5 Patient is recovering/symptoms resolving 11289 6 Patient has recovered but has consequent health issues 254 Yearly FDA Adverse Event Reports (Table)
Year Number of Reports 2000 1 2001 1 2003 5 2004 1261 2005 1343 2006 1233 2007 1275 2008 1776 2009 2116 2010 2113 2011 2245 2012 3058 2013 2490 2014 2585 2015 3866 2016 4463 2017 3482 2018 5655 2019 7675 2020 52972 2021 151982 2022 109911 2023 2514 2024 488 2025 363 2026 145 Reports by Patient Age Group (Table)
Age Group Number of Reports 0-10 1407 11-20 1461 21-30 4176 31-40 13045 41-50 34658 51-60 63021 61-70 56564 71-80 22651 81-90 5146 91+ 411
ZANTAC Total Reports
| Male | Female | Unknown | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 165649 | 147926 | 51443 | 365,018 |
Top Countries Reporting
| Country | Number of Reports | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 339641 |
| 2 | Canada | 2999 |
| 3 | Japan | 600 |
| 4 | Puerto Rico | 374 |
| 5 | Italy | 335 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 198 |
| 7 | Belgium | 172 |
| 8 | Germany | 137 |
| 9 | Greece | 110 |
| 10 | Australia | 77 |
Outcomes for Reports
Serious: 342376
Not Serious: 22642
Note: A serious outcome means the adverse event resulted in death, a life threatening condition, hospitalization, disability, congenital anomaly, or other serious condition.
| Top Indications | |
| Product used for unknown indication | |
| INDIGESTION | |
| Gastrooesophageal reflux disease | |
| Gastrointestinal disorder | |
Top Companies Reporting
| CHATTEM | |
For serious adverse events, report them to the FDA by contacting the drug manufacturer or report directly through the
MedWatch voluntary reporting form.
Events listed on this page represent serious and often rare adverse events
reported to pharmaceutical companies, and do not represent typical side
effects for the medication. Find common side effects on the most recent
official drug label
This report, created by AskaPatient.com, is derived from the cases for ZANTAC reported to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) and
obtained from Open FDA. Data was last
updated with reports received through July 30, 2026.
Adverse Event Reports are submitted to the FAERS database by pharmaceutical companies (mandatory reporting is required by manufacturers, distributors, or importers).
Health care providers such as doctors (voluntary reporting), and patients themselves (voluntary reporting)
report to the FDA directly through the MedWatch program. Those MedWatch
reports are coded and included in the FAERS database. This report mainly
consists of the mandatory reports, because the MedWatch reports are a small
percentage (3 - 5%) of total reports. Link to the MedWatch summary report at
the top of the page for a summary of the directly reported
(voluntary) adverse events for this drug.The number of reports included here might differ
somewhat from the number of reports in the downloadable quarterly FAERS
reports and in the online FAERS dashboard, due to lags in reporting, drug
name differences,
duplicates, and other factors. Open FDA states that it only includes the
most recent version of a case report. It also adds the disclaimer:
"Do not rely on openFDA to make
decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that
data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated."
FDA uses the "MedDRA" classification system to describe reported adverse
reactions. MedDRA is a standardized medical terminology that facilitates
sharing of regulatory information internationally. In some cases, "patient
friendly" terms for the layman designated by MedDRA have been substituted
for medical jargon. Please
contact us
with questions or comments about this report.
Safety-Related FDA Updates
Notes
This summary includes ALL reports where the
drug is a "primary OR secondary OR suspected interacting" drug. Typically, reports are filed for the most serious type or "event" and do not represent incidental or minor side effects. The majority
of these reports are mandatory reports submitted by pharmaceutical
companies, who receive complaints from consumers. The reactions, side effects, or "adverse events," represent up to the 20 most
frequently occuring events in the database for a drug related to the event.
This report also features counts of latest known outcomes associated with
reported side effects, but does not provide the specific outcomes for specific
adverse events.
