KINGSTON, Jamaica — Announcement of the amount in damages that should be paid by global pharmaceutical company Pfizer to local distributors Lasco and Medimpex Jamaica was postponed this morning.

Supreme Court Judge, Justice Vivene Harris, informed the parties this morning of a new formula for assessing the level of compensation she has proposed, as well as a new deadline for completing the procedure by November.

The brief sitting of the court ended with several of the people in attendance expressing disappointment in another delay in closing the issue, which dates back to 2002.

The local firms are seeking a combined total of approximately US$501 million from Pfizer — one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies — for loss of sales related to a seven-year injunction which was sought by Pfizer and awarded by the Jamaican Supreme Court in 2005, pending judgement on the drug giant’s case for breach of patent letters by both local distributors for generics in competition with Pfizer’s amlopidine-based hypertension drug, Norvasc.

Balford Henry