SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Pfizer Inc. has announced the settlement of a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit filed by Brigham Young University over development of the blockbuster painkiller Celebrex.
Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed by the drug company or the Mormon Church-owned university in Utah. The settlement was announced Tuesday in a confidential agreement.
BYU’s lawsuit says a chemistry professor, Daniel Simmons, discovered the genetic workings of the drug in the early 1990s. It accused Pfizer of violating a research agreement the school made with predecessor companies.
As part of the settlement, BYU plans to endow a Dan Simmons Chair in recognition of his lifelong work advancing human health.
BYU says Simmons’ research for Celebrex was among the most important pharmacological discoveries of the past two decades.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.