Pharmaceutical companies Lasco Distributors and Medimpex Jamaica have lost their bid to secure an increase in Supreme Court award made in their favour against the US-based Pfizer Limited. The Jamaican Court of Appeal ruled that the $273 million award to Lasco and the $170 million to Medimpex were properly calculated by the Supreme Court in 2017. The case has been lingering since 2002, when Pfizer sued the pharmaceutical companies for an alleged patent infringement for the generic versions of the prescription drug amlodipine, which is used to treat hypertension. Pfizer was granted an injunction against them and gave the court an undertaking in 2005 to pay damages if necessary. The injunction was lifted in 2012, after the Supreme Court ruled that Pfizer‘s patent was invalid. The court then assessed the damages payable to the companies for being unable to sell their products since 2002 because of the injunction. In 2017 the Supreme Court delivered its judgment and determined that Pfizer should pay Lasco $273.3-million and Medimpex approximately $170.8 million in damages. Both Lasco and Medimpex appealed the decision, arguing that the methodology used by the Judge was flawed and that vital evidence was missing. But the Court of Appeal found no error in the calculations by the Judge, and actually commended her for the manner in which it was done. In dismissing the appeal, the court also ordered that Lasco and Medimpex pay Pfizer‘s legal costs.
