A federal magistrate on Wednesday awarded Brigham Young University $852,315 in attorney fees and other costs after finding that Pfizer had engaged in repeated delays in a lawsuit involving billions of dollars earned from the highly successful anti-inflammatory drug Celebrex.
The ruling by Magistrate Brooke Wells came in a lawsuit in which BYU claims a professor's research provided to Pfizer's predecessor, Monsanto, helped create Celebrex, which the Utah school said has earned $30 billion as the most commercially successful drug in history.
BYU sued Pfizer in 2006 after negotiations failed to produce an agreement.
In asking for attorneys fees and expenses, BYU pointed to repeated delays in providing it with evidence in the case and said that some evidence had been destroyed.
BYU claims that one of the documents Pfizer's attorneys failed to provide proved that Simmons' research was worth $10 million a day for the head start it gave the company in developing Celebrex before competitors could do so.
In her ruling, Wells cited "abuses" and "repeated failures" in producing documents.
"The court finds Pfizer has interfered with the judicial process," Wells wrote.
She also put Pfizer on notice that "continued delays in discovery and misrepresentations about its status or the availability of discovery will not be tolerated."
"We have just received the court's ruling and are evaluating our options," said Christopher Loder, a Pfizer spokesman. "Although we respectfully disagree with the award of attorneys' fees, Pfizer respects the court's ruling and will abide by our discovery obligations."
BYU spokesman Michael Smart declined detailed comment, saying only: "We feel like the judge was very careful and thorough in her ruling, and it speaks for itself. BYU will continue to vigorously pursue this case to an appropriate conclusion."
The case revolves around the work Daniel L. Simmons, who came to BYU from Harvard in 1989, and who identified an enzyme that causes inflammation.
To turn the discovery into a commercial pain-relief product, BYU and Monsanto reached an agreement under which Simmons would direct the research and Monsanto would handle the patents. BYU was to share in the profits of any products that resulted.
Instead, the lawsuit alleges, Pfizer used Simmons' research to test a compound patented by another scientist, canceled its contract with BYU and denied the school and its professor any credit or monetary rewards related to Celebrex.
Pfizer insists Simmons and his research had nothing to do with the creation of its blockbuster drug.
"As we've maintained, the facts simply do not support the unfounded claims made in this lawsuit," said Loder. "We are confident that the facts clearly show that Monsanto fully met all the obligations of its research agreement with BYU and Dr. Simmons."
The ruling is another setback in the case for the giant drug maker. Last month, a federal judge allowed the case to move forward by ruling that Simmons had a valid confidentiality agreement with Monsanto.
