A patient has filed a lawsuit against Bayer Pharmaceuticals and McKesson Corporation, blaming the drugmakers of causing her to suffer an adverse reaction to the gadolinium contrast agent Magnecist, used during her MRI. Allegedly, the drug is defective and can cause patients to be injuredby gadolinium, a heavy metal in the drug, because the heavy metal stays in the body longer than advertised.

Inside Radiology notes that gadolinium contrast agents are used in about one out of three MRIs.  

Plaintiff Cheryl M. says that she was injected with gadolinium contrast agents more than 20 times during MRIs, according to the lawsuit. Magnevist, the gadolinium contrast agent manufactured by Bayer and McKessen, was injected multiple times during her scans.

Cheryl claims that as a result of the Magnevist, she developed gadolinium toxicity, or Gadolinium Deposition Disease, which manifests a number of ways, including  neurological cognitive issues; body, bone, joint, and muscle pain; skin issues such as parethesia and rashes; and extreme fatigue.

Cheryl allegedly continues to suffer from these conditions and will continue to do so. She claims that Bayer and McKesson knew, or should have known, that Magnevist could cause such issues, but failed to adequately warn patients and doctors.

Allegedly, Gadolinium Deposition Disease (GDD) occurs because gadolinium, the metal that is the active ingredient in Magnevist and is what allows organs to more easily be seen during MRI imaging, is toxic.

GDD reportedly occurs in patients with normal kidney function before being injected with a gadolinium contrast agent. Cheryl notes that she did not have kidney problems before Magnevist. The Magnevist gadolinium reaction lawsuit says there is no known cure to GDD.

The lawsuit notes that gadolinium is a heavy metal that does not naturally occur in the body, and the only known way a patient can get it is when it’s injected in the form of a gadolinium-based contrast agent.

Gadolinium contrast agents are made is by being coated in another substance, preventing the heavy metal from making direct contact with a patient’s body.

In the case of Magnevist, the other substance does not sufficiently surround the gadolinium ions, and thus makes it possible for the metal to enter human tissue, according to the suit. It has been well-documented that the substance used by Bayer and McKesson to coat the gadolinium is less effective than what’s used in other gadolinium contrast agents, the suit continues.

Gadolinium had widely been believed to be harmless because the body flushed it out after a few hours, but research now suggests that the metal is toxic and harmful and may remain in the body for years.

Cheryl notes that in 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acknowledged that gadolinium toxicity is not only a problem in patients with kidney problems, but in patients with normal kidney function. The gadolinium contrast agent lawsuit says that the substance is flushed out via the renal system. It was initially thought that only patients with kidney problems could be negatively affected, but more current research suggests this is not the case.

The issue of gadolinium contrast agent toxicity made the news in publications including Imaging Technology News, which reported that a study published in 2014 indicated that gadolinium stayed in the brain, instead of simply being flushed out.

The Magnevist Gadolinium Toxicity Class Action Lawsuit is 3:19-cv-02553-JCS, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.