GE Healthcare drops libel action against scientist | Science | guardian.co.uk

A US corporation, GE Healthcare, has dropped the controversial British libel action it brought against a scientist who criticised one of its drugs, saying the firm did not mean to stifle academic debate.

Lawyers for leading Danish radiologist Henrik Thomsen said today: "He will be obviously relieved. Now he won't have to worry about his future financial position, and won't have to keep looking over his shoulder before he says anything."

At a 2007 Oxford medical conference, Thomsen criticised use of Omniscan, GE's best-selling contrast agent injected into patients so their tissues show up better during MRI scans.

Use of the drug, which contains a toxic metal, gadolinium, has now been halted for a small group of patients with previously malfunctioning kidneys, after hundreds of them developed permanently crippling side-effects from a condition called NSF.

The financial terms of the settlement were secret, Thomsen's lawyer, Andrew Stephenson of Carter-Ruck, said yesterday. But the solicitors had defended the case on a no-win no-fee basis, so it is expected by observers that they will have gained a sizeable payment.

In agreed statements released today, Thomsen said: "I stand by my publicly expressed opinion, based on my experience and research on published papers, that there is an association between the chemical formulation of gadolinium-based contrast agents and NSF."

He added: "It was not my intention to suggest on the basis of the evidence then available to me that GE Healthcare had marketed Omniscan knowing that it might cause NSF."

The company, a subsidiary of the giant US corporation General Electric, said it had not intended to "stifle academic debate" by suing Thomsen for libel, and accepted that his concerns were expressed in good faith: "GE Healthcare objected to statements made by Professor Thomsen which it interpreted as suggesting that it had known from the outset that Omniscan caused NSF."

The company said it welcomed what it called a "principled debate" about safety issues.

A British NSF sufferer, Margaret Roxburgh from Glasgow, is attempting to gain compensation after she was injected with Omniscan in 2006. Her lawyer, Cameron Fyfe, says Scottish authorities are currently refusing legal aid on the grounds the case would be too expensive to pursue. She is one of 28 alleged British victims. A series of lawsuits are also being brought against GE in the US.

The use of British libel laws against scientists by commercial organisations has been the subject of increasing controversy, and a Ministry of Justice working party is considering reforms.

via guardian.co.uk

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