Bayer settles some NSF cases

Bayer settles some NSF cases

Bayer has tentatively settled between 30 and 40 lawsuits brought by patients who developed nephrogenic systemic fibrosis after the administration of Magnevist, its MR contrast agent. Only Bayer has so far reached any such settlements, according to Peter Burg, an attorney with Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine in Englewood, CO, who told DI SCAN that not all of the tentative deals involve his clients. Bayer and several other makers of gadolinium-based contrast agents are facing hundreds of lawsuits alleging a link between the administration of the agents and NSF, a potentially fatal disease characterized by uncontrolled growth of connective tissue in the skin and internal organs. In September 2007, the FDA asked manufacturers of these agents -- Bayer (Magnevist), GE Healthcare (Omniscan), Mallinckrodt/Tyco Healthcare (OptiMark), and Bracco Diagnostics (ProHance and MultiHance) -- to add a black-box warning about NSF. The agency at the time also warned patients with impaired kidney function to avoid gadolinium-containing agents.

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