Is GE Trying to Stifle Omniscan Critic in the UK?
A Danish radiologist says GE Healthcare is using libel laws in the United Kingdom to stop his criticism of Omniscan.
For now, because of the libel claim against him, The Guardian says Henrick Thomsen has stopped lecturing in the UK. The doctor also claims patients in England are being put at serious risk because he and other scientists are prevented from sharing their knowledge as a result of the way the libel courts in the country operate.
Thomsen was one of the first doctors to speak out about a potential link between Omniscan and NSF in 2007, after about 30 patients at Copenhagen University Hospital where he worked developed the condition. According to The Guardian, the UK libel suit alleges that Thomsen defamed GE Healthcare, and that his claims regarding Omniscan were malicious.
GE Healthcare has already spent £380,000, or $614,000 USD, to sue Thomsen in the UK. According to The Guardian, if the drug giant wins, Thomsen will have to pay its costs.
NSF is a rare, debilitating and often fatal disease that appears to only affect people with severe kidney disease who have been exposed to gadolinium contrast dyes, like Omniscan. In the U.S. where the drugs have been required to bear a black box warning regarding the potential for NSF since 2007, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is currently considering tougher labeling requirements for the Omniscan and other gadolinium dyes.
