Lasco, Medimpex to hear value of damages in Pfizer case today

Global drug giant Pfizer Limited is to learn today how much it will have to pay local companies Lasco Distributors Limited and Medimpex Jamaica Limited in relation to their multi-million dollar lawsuit.

The long-awaited decision is to be handed down by Justice Viviene Harris in the Supreme Court.

Pfizer was sued by the two Jamaican companies for preventing them from selling a generic form of the hypertension drug Norvasc.

Lasco has asked the court to award it US$311 million in damages, but Pfizer has countered saying Lasco should be paid no more than US$518,000 for the period it was not allowed to sell the drug.

Medimpex is demanding US$11.5 million.

But Pfizer is asking the court to rule that it should not pay out more than US$68,000 to Medimpex.

The matter arose from an injunction granted to Pfizer in 2005, which remained in effect until 2012 when the United Kingdom-based Privy Council upheld rulings by the local courts in favour of Lasco and Medimpex.

Pfizer had contended that the Jamaican firms violated its patent when they started selling generic versions of Norvasc in the early 2000s.

But Lasco and Medimpex challenged the matter in court and won.