Nycomed's Teslascan MRI agent is cleared

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new MRI contrast agent developed by Nycomed Amersham for liver studies. The Buckinghamshire, U.K., company announced on Dec. 1 that Teslascan received the FDA's go-ahead. In addition to Nycomed Amersham's marketing effort, Teslascan will be sold in the U.S. by Schering subsidiary Berlex Laboratories of Wayne, NJ. Berlex gained rights to Teslascan in 1992 in exchange for settling its claim that Nycomed's Omniscan MRI agent infringed on patents Schering holds for its Magnevist product (SCAN 8/26/92).

Berlex will market Teslascan under its own label and trade name, but the company has not yet determined what it will call the product, according to a Berlex spokesperson. Teslascan is not covered by Berlex's contrast media licensing agreement with Abbott Laboratories, which distributes Magnevist and x-ray contrast agent Ultravist