Omniscan Plaintiffs Get Favorable Ruling
Omniscan plaintiffs just got a favorable ruling from U.S. District Judge Dan Polster. GE Healthcare, which makes Omniscan,and the other makers of gadolinium agents are named in approximately 500 lawsuits filed by NSF patients, most of which have been consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL) before Judge Polster.
GE Healthcare had attempted to exclude many of the plaintiffs’ theories and witnesses from the proceedings. But in a 58-page ruling, Judge Polster has rejected those attempts, including one that would have barred a plaintiff theory that Omniscan breaks down chemically, releasing a toxic metal that triggers the disease. He also ruled to allow the testimony of two medical school professors that the company failed to properly warn radiologists about Omniscan.
In addition, Judge Polster ruled that he would not permit GE Healthcare’s in-house expert to testify that NSF has occurred in the absence of exposure to gadolinium-based agents because the two studies that served as the basis for that opinion are “fundamentally flawed.” He also said GE Healthcare would not be allowed to introduce testimony by a former FDA official that the agency would have stopped the company from unilaterally changing its label to include stronger warnings on the NSF risk.
hcare’s case, but said most of the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses will be allowed to testify at trials.
