Tuesday, July 14, 2009

CLASS ACTION SUIT against 5 drug companies • Patients diagnosed with NSF after being injected with contrast-agent • MRI • Never warned • side-effects

NATIONAL - 517 plaintiffs are suing "pharmaceutical companies that make certain dyes used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)." They were "diagnosed with nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF)...after being injected with a contrast-agent made with gadolinium." While "patients with healthy kidneys simply flush the gadolinium out," those "with NSF...describe their skin turning wood-like, eventually cracking."

The FDA "issued a warning in 2006 and 2007 not to administer the drug to those with kidney problems," but "gadolinium is still used in routine MRIs." The class-action suit "against five pharmaceutical companies that make gadolinium-based contrasting agents is getting larger as more and more are diagnosed with NSF."

Some claim that they were "never warned about the possible side-effect because the medical community was in the dark at the time."

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